Darkness Rising
by shepardknight
Summary: Harry is not the boy who lived! His twin Ignotus is instead. As Harry is ignored in favor of his famous glory-seeking twin he must learn to master the darkness inside him lest it consumes him. Eventual Dark Harry, Greater Good Dumbledore, some minor Weasley bashing.
1. The Beginning

Five years… It had been five long and miserable years since Albus Dumbledore 'lost' The-Boy-Who-Lived and his twin brother. One day they had been perfectly safe at their Aunt and Uncle's home, then Dumbledore's alarms had started blaring from a large amount of magic coming from the Dursley residence, far too much for it to just be another ordinary bout of accidental magic. He had of course immediately set out to rescue the young wizarding saviour but by the time he arrived at Privet Drive it had already been consumed by a raging inferno and the young Potter twins were nowhere to be seen. He had spent the past five years searching high and low for The-Boy-Who-Lived, spurred on by an extremely furious Minerva Mcgonagall in a manner that made the elderly headmaster mentally compare his protege to a rather grumpy nesting dragon. Yet now, after all his options had been exhausted, Albus Dumbledore and Minerva Mcgonagall stood in one of the most well protected rooms in all of Hogwarts - the Hogwarts Magical Mail Enchantment Mailroom. The Hogwarts Mail Enchantment Mailroom was created by Rowena Ravenclaw herself and no Witch or Wizard alive knew how it worked. As to what it did and why the two most senior members of the Hogwarts staff were so desperately huddled inside it… The Hogwarts Magical Mail Enchantment Mailroom ensured that every single last student of Hogwarts received their official Hogwarts mail such as exam results, book lists, and most importantly, admission letters. Somehow the magic of the Hogwarts Magical Mail Enchantment Mailroom was able to detect exactly where a student was with barely any outside input. You would simply place the official Hogwarts letter into a small rune circle and after a moment a envelope would appear with the letter already enclosed. Normally Professor Mcgonagall would simply place all of the letters into the rune circle at once and then send out all the letters in one massive push. This time however, Albus Dumbledore gently placed only the admittance letter for one Ignotus Potter and prayed to all the gods he knew, and all the gods he remained ignorant of, that this would work, that young Ignotus Potter was not dead as he had begun to suspect. There was of course a letter for his twin brother Harry, but it was Ignotus, The-Boy-Who-Lived that was truly important. Dumbledore knew that Ignotus Potter would be needed to vanquish Voldemort for good

All it took was a slight flash of light, and the two elderly teachers snatched the letters from the rune circle, Professor Mcgonagall managing to win out by a mere hairsbreadth. "Ser Jory's Or-Orphanage… They're at an Orphanage Albus!" The Deputy Headmaster shot the Headmaster a glare that came just short of a Basilisk's. "Merlindammit Albus! Do you have any idea what those muggle orphanages are like? I've seen them," Minerva Mcgonagall started ranting, "I've been to them! To dozens of them searching for the boy that YOU lost! And they're all the same! They are all dirty, and poor, and broken down. The children, Merlin Albus, the children! They all looked miserable, utterly miserable! I am going to this- this _orphanage_ and speaking to Mr. Potter right now, and don't you dare try to stop me!" With her piece spoken the Deputy Headmistress turned on her heel and stormed out of the Hogwarts Magical Mail Enchantment Mailroom, leaving a very shamefaced headmaster to finish with the rest of the students mail.

"Minerva wait," called out Albus Dumbledore "the address on the other letter is different." Minerva stopped and slowly turned around, staring at the two letters and their two very different addresses. The first was addressed to Harry Potter at 'Ser Jory's Orphanage, Second Floor Dormitory, Corner Bed.' The second letter was addressed to Ignotus Potter at 'Tyran Estate, West Corridor Loft.'

"Why would they be in different locations Albus? What has happened to the Potter Twins?" Minerva voice shook ever so slightly as her mind brought forth various worst case scenarios.

"I do not know Minerva… Go check on young Harry. I will go to Ignotus." Dumbledore spoke with a tired, hollow voice. The years of frantic searching had taken their toll, but the venerable wizards with far too many names and titles felt assured that everything would return to business as usual once he retained The-Boy-Who-Lived. So he hadn't spent ten years with the Dursleys being molded into a perfect follower, so he possibly had found guardians who loved him, they were still muggles. Of that Dumbledore was sure, and muggles, no matter how intelligent or resourceful simply had no power in the magical world. They had no voice, no contacts, nothing at all with which to influence the magical world. Thus Dumbledore was confident that he would easily be able to mold The-Boy-Who-Lived into an acceptable follower of the greatest wizard of their time.

Minerva Mcgonagall arrived in front of Ser Jory's Orphanage with a slight pop and immediately saw that the situation was likely as she had feared. The old three story building was creaking in the wind, as though a strong breeze might send it toppling down. The walls were grey and brown, covered in muck and grime from having gone unwashed for an untold number of years. Some of the windows had bars on them, while others were simply boarded up. Those windows that were whole and uncovered were nearly as filthy as the walls and the old witch found herself unable to see inside. With an angry huff Minerva Mcgonagall walked into the delipidated building, quickly taking notice of an extremely tall lanky woman. The woman in question had limp brown hair that seemed unevenly cut, as though she cut it herself. Her tired dull brown eyes looked up at Mcgonagall, sizing her up for a few moments before tiredly speaking. "Is there something I can help you with ma'am?"

"Yes," Mcgonagall replied shortly "I need to speak with one of the children in your… care," Mcgonagall spoke the last word with a disdain that the other woman could practically feel wash over her. "I believe his name is Harry Potter. He is 11 years old." The other woman's dull brown eyes widened in what Mcgonagall surmised was surprise for a moment before she carefully asked why she would be looking for a specific boy at an orphanage. Losing her patience Mcgonagall cast a quick and discreet compulsion charm on the muggle to simply go and retrieve the young wizard. It was far too early in the morning to be dealing with lazy, incompetent muggles.

Harry Potter woke quickly, far too quickly for it to be natural. As such Harry continued to lay in bed, feigning sleep as he stretched out with all of his sense to try and learn what had woken him.

" _Be quiet!"_ Harry heard someone whisper softly. So softly that he could barely make out the words.

" _SHHH!_ "

"You'll wake the damn freak up!"

* _Too late for that you bloody idiots._ * Harry thought darkly as he planned how to intimidate them this time. * _I would just fry the dumb pricks if they wouldn't scream so loudly. If only there was a way to stop sound from leaving a room…_ * Harry could hear the group of teenage orphans slowly getting closer, taking a deep breath Harry realized that he could smell them getting closer too. * _Great, smells like Ronny decided not to shower last night. Or the last few nights before that either… Gross! You would think a fifteen year old would be able to bathe himself but noooo! Smelling like a human being rather than a dirty animal is too girly. He must be overcompensating._ *

"Come on, let's get him!" One of the voices that Harry identified as the extremely smelly Ronny. Whispered enthusiastically. Ever since Harry had taught Ronnie why the "freak" was best left alone last year he had been trying to rope the other boys into his revenge scheme. Obviously the extremely tall, disgusting, pimple faced boy had finally succeeded in his task. Harry opened his eyes and quickly assessed the situation. There were four boys standing less than a foot away from his bed, with Ronny being the closest. Ronny's hand was raised and he was holding a long dirty grey sock that held a large lump at the end and the other three boys each held a similar weapon. Ronny saw Harry's eyes open and shouted "GET HIM!" while swinging his hand down, the rock filled sock trailing slightly behind. Harry rolled off the foot of his bed, narrowly dodging the DUI sock flail. With a smirk Harry thrust his hands out and all four boys were sent flying across the room, each of them landing roughly, knocking over dressers and bed frames alike. It was at this point that Harry noticed his dorm room was conspicuously empty when there should have been half a dozen other boys about his age sound asleep and his face darkened.

"S-s-s-st-stay away from m-m-m-me freak," one of the boys -Jerome - called out as he saw the look on Harry's face. Harry merely gave Jerome a soft playful smile and the older boys face blanched. Harry raised his left hand and Jerome flew up until he smashed into the ceiling and was held there by some unseeable force until Harry lowered his hand. Jerome fell to the floor with a loud 'thump' and he immediately started crawling away. Harry's face twisted into a snarl as he saw all four boys cowering on the ground, hiding under the beds and tucking themselves into the corners of the room as though not being able to see him would somehow protect them from him. Looking around him Harry quickly spotted Ronny shivering in fright behind a bed that had been knocked over in the scuffle. Harry thrust out his right hand and Ronny started sliding towards his feet as though some invisible force were dragging the bully towards his intended victim.

"W-wait! You can't do anything to me, they'll kick you out!" Ronny spluttered his pitiful defence with a voice that had become laughably squeaky due to his currently overwhelming fear. The plan had been to get the Potter brat before he could wake up and pull any of his freakishness on them. Then they would beat him so badly that he would never dare do any of that stuff ever again! Everything had gone so terribly wrong, and yet the idea of being kicked out onto the streets made Harry pause, and then back away. Or so Ronny thought. "Ya that's right you dumb freak. You can't do anything to me or everyone will tell the grown ups and you'll never be allowed in here again!" Ronny started to stand up but was quickly pushed down by the same unseen force that had dragged him to his current spot on the dirty hardwood floor.

* _Hmmph. The idiot thinks I actually care? Or that the grown ups can even do anything? I'll show him._ * Harry thought to himself with a dark smile as he walked back towards Ronny with a pillow in his hands. Harry reached down and pushed the soft pillow against Ronny's face, then tapped it with a finger and stood back. The pillow managed to stay perfectly still on the older boys face as the other boys started on, not knowing what was about to happen. Harry glared at each of the boys, all of them older and larger than himself. Then, without warning, Harry raised his foot and stomped down on the pillow clad face of Ronny the smelly bully. One stomp turned into two, which became three, which became five before Harry roughly smacked his foot down onto the beaten boys chest and glared at each of his attackers yet again, his vivid green eyes screaming bloody murder. Then he walked away as though nothing had happened and the three boys that remained conscious collapsed as the tension vacated the room and their bodies.

Harry turned down the stairs after leaving the room, noting yet again how each step seemed to squeak from the slightest pressure, the walls were dark and dank looking, and if you looked at them long enough you would swear they looked like they were starting to bow under the pressure of holding up such a large house for so long with little to no upkeep or maintenance.

"Potter!" Harry snapped to attention, broken away from his mindless morning musings to see the Orphanages Matron Ms. Wreck standing at the bottom of the stairs with her hands placed on her hips imperiously. "There is someone here to see you! You haven't gotten into more trouble have you boy?" Harry shook his head no as he descended the speaking staircase, remaining silent but glowering at the old hag as she grabbed him by the shoulder and started to pull him towards her then push him towards the door behind her. "Go talk to the woman, and for heaven's sake don't scare her!"

Minerva Mcgonagall was getting quite impatient despite only waiting a scant few minutes. She had after all been searching for the Potter twins for the past several years. Albus hadn't even told her he had lost them until she started to badger him about their welfare one day and refused to let up. But that didn't matter at this moment, what mattered was finding Harry Potter and ensuring he was safe and preferably moved away from this Morgana-cursed hovel. As Minerva Mcgonagall saw the young, less famous Potter twin however all her hopes fell crashing to the ground. Harry Potter, and it was unmistakably Harry Potter, had vividly bright green eyes, similar to his mothers but brighter, almost luminescent. His hair was raven black, quite long for a boy, and currently pulled back into a ponytail. She could see how he should look just like his father, the features were there, but they were hidden under scars. Harry had a long vertical scarn starting just above his ear, running behind it and down to his shoulder. Another two small lines adorned his face just above his right eyebrow, running up along his temple and into his hairline. There were several marks on each of his arms, she could see where he had been bitten by some sort of animal, and several jagged lines along his forearms and upper arms. There were likely more underneath his clothing but as they were underneath his clothing she could not confirm her suspicions. While the Deputy Headmistress was taking stock of little Harry Potter, he was simply standing and staring at the woman who somehow looked different from anyone else he had ever seen. She seemed brighter somehow, like she was glowing, yet Harry could tell that she was not glowing. Ms Wreck would have thrown quite the fit at seeing something so 'freakish'. As Harry tried to focus on where this glowing was coming from he noticed that the old lady's 'aura' for lack of a better word seemed to be tinged with red and blue colorings. As he focused more he could see a slight outline that somehow seemed distinctly furry. * _Weird… But- what if she's like me? Am I getting away from here?_ *

"Mr. Potter… Harry. I was a friend of your parents and I have been searching for you for a very long time." Harry stared up into Professor Mcgonagall's eyes but didn't say a word. "I have so much to tell you, there's a whole other world waiting for you." At this Harry's eyes shone with hope and a large smile escaped Harry's control. Harry was completely silent as the patient Professor Mcgonagall explained all about how magic was real, the amazing things that it could do, as well as admitting it could do terrible things too. Even as she spoke of Hogwarts and the four houses, and all the lessons that Harry would get to become a world class wizard Harry did not speak a word. He did not make a single sound apart from what noise he made from breathing even when he was reading his Hogwarts acceptance letter and required items list. As Mcgonagall finished she could see the joy clearly reflected in Harry's body language, yet he still had not spoken. "Is there something wrong Harry? Why won't you speak to me?"

Harry frowned slightly and tilted his head, then placed his acceptance letter in front of him and pulled a small pencil from his pocket. Harry took a few moments to quickly scribble something on the back of the paper and held it up to the witch. There were only two words, two very simple words. "I can't."

 **AN: That's right folks, Harry Potter is mute. Something that will lead to a great deal of frustration for him. Now you may be asking where Ignotus Potter is and why he isn't with Harry, well that will be explained when we meet him. Now Harry is going to be "Dark". He won't be torturing people for kicks but will not be adverse to getting his hands dirty. Now while Harry is going to be powerful, this is not a "Super Harry" story. I plan on giving Harry several opponents that can properly challenge him aside from You-No-Poo.**

 **This is my first fanfiction after spending years reading them. Some of my favorite are Dark Harry stories but my problem is that most of them get abandoned or are slash and pair Harry with Moldyshorts. I don't understand why people think it works but I have never felt that it does. I have a few possible pairings thought up but have made no decisions. So since I find myself in need of a good Dark Harry fic I figured, why not write my own? Do all the awesome things I wish were in other stories. Strangle Dumbledore with his beard, drown Ron in a massive plate of mashed potatoes and gravy, kill off Snape with a rampaging herd of Stags, make Voldemort slip on a banana peel and land in front of his own killing curse... Okay so that last one won't happen but the others could. Maybe. Let's wait and see...**

 **So hit that follow button to get my next chapter as soon as I post it, and leave a review with your opinions.**


	2. Jedi or Wizard?

AN: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did then Harry would be a angry badass, Luna would be a main character, Ron would probably have died in a quidditch match or by choking from eating like a wild pig, and Dumbledore would have been the true Dark Lord of Britain, coming out of the shadows after Harry killed Voldemort in a duel. Oh, and Harry would never have learned that damn expelliarmus spell either. I mean, who uses disarming spells when your opponent is throwing blood boiling curses, organ rotting curses, and unblockable killing curses? Voldemort deserved to win that damn war with how utterly stupid "the Light" was being. But without further ado, we shall move onto tonight's entertainment. Enjoy. 

_Last time in Darkness Rising:_

" _Mr. Potter… Harry. I was a friend of your parents and I have been searching for you for a very long time." Harry stared up into Professor Mcgonagall's eyes but didn't say a word. "I have so much to tell you, there's a whole other world waiting for you." At this Harry's eyes shone with hope and a large smile escaped Harry's control. Harry was completely silent as the patient Professor Mcgonagall explained all about how magic was real, the amazing things that it could do, as well as admitting it could do terrible things too. Even as she spoke of Hogwarts and the four houses, and all the lessons that Harry would get to become a world class wizard Harry did not speak a word. He did not make a single sound apart from what noise he made from breathing even when he was reading his Hogwarts acceptance letter and required items list. As Mcgonagall finished she could see the joy clearly reflected in Harry's body language, yet he still had not spoken. "Is there something wrong Harry? Why won't you speak to me?"_

 _Harry frowned slightly and tilted his head, then placed his acceptance letter in front of him and pulled a small pencil from his pocket. Harry took a few moments to quickly scribble something on the back of the paper and held it up to the witch. There were only two words, two very simple words. "I can't."_

It was a very irate Harry Potter who stomped out of St. Mungos with his escort, Minerva Mcgonagall. After learning that Harry was indeed mute she immediately took him to the wizarding hospital in the hope that they could do what the muggles could not. It was not an unreasonable hope, not truly. The healers took their scans, prescribed nutrition potions, salves and creams to erase the multitude of scars marring his young eleven year old body. They had cast spells and forced a multitude of potions down his throat before exclaiming that he was "cured". And yet Harry Potter still did not speak. Nor did he whisper. He didn't even squeak or shout when surprised. It was at that point that Harry could see everyone change, even Professor Mcgonagall. Suddenly there was something wrong, they were all sad for him, as though he cared about being able to speak. He got along just fine so far after all.

"Harry…" Professor Mcgonagall intoned quietly. "I am so sorry, I had no idea." Harry pulled out a notebook that the Professor had given him and wrote quickly but neatly, a skill he had been forced to pick up when he had lost his voice.

" _Why are you sorry? Who cares if I can't speak. I don't need to talk, I can take care of myself!_ "

"Oh Harry… You need to be able to speak the spells you want to cast. You need to talk to learn how to use magic at Hogwarts." Professor Mcgonagall stopped in front of a shop and gently waved Harry off the street and closer to herself, she then placed a quick privacy charm so they could continue speaking. Harry looked at the Transfiguration Professor and smiled as he shook his head and wrote another note on a fresh page of the small pocket notebook.

" _So you are saying it is impossible to perform magic without talking?_ "

"Well, no… it's not impossible per say, but silent magic is incredibly difficult. It's something we don't teach until your sixth year. Even then, most people aren't able to grasp it."

" _So I'll just have to be better than everyone else. Smarter, stronger, faster. That's nothing new._ " Harry scribbled neatly, smirking cockily as Professor Mcgonagall read his words.

"Very well then Harry. I certainly won't try to stop you." Professor Mcgonagall watched as her charge wandered up ahead, his head shaking in a manner reminiscent of a bobblehead as he tried to see everything at once. * _He's certainly determined. I wonder where he will be sorted? He's brave enough for Gryffindor, but the ambition to attend Hogwarts without being able to perform verbal magic just screams Slytherin. Or perhaps the hard work Hufflepuff is known for._ * Minerva was literally shook out of her thoughts by a bright eyes Harry as he pointed at Ollivanders Wand Shop. "Of course Harry," Mcgonagall said with a small smile "let's go get your your wand."

"Interesting, very interesting…"

"What is interesting Mr. Ollivander?" Professor Mcgonagall snapped impatiently. She had been standing in the small stuffy shop for the past half hour as Harry tried one wand after another.

"Oh nothing in particular Professor. It is not often that a Wizard has such a tricky time finding a proper wand. Hmm…" The old wand maker trailed off and stared towards the back of his shop for several moments. "Yes, perhaps one of those will work." Ollivander muttered lowly as he shuffled off to procure another wand for Harry.

" _He's weird._ " Harry wrote in his notebook for the Hogwarts professor to read. " _I don't like how he looks at me. I hope we're done soon._ "

"I'm sure you will find a match soon little one." Mcgonagall replied with a ruffling of his long hair.

"Here we go Mr. Potter," Ollivander spoke as he held out a long thin box with three wands in it, "try one of these now." Harry reached out towards the left wand, it was made from some sort of deep red wood. His hand stopped less than an inch away from the wand however as he could feel something else. Harry stared at the wands and could see a sort of shimmer around each of them and that the middle wand seemed to be reaching towards him, or rather the shimmering seemed to be extending slightly in his direction. Harry picked up the middle wand and inspected it. The wood appeared to be two different shades of brown that twisted and entwined with each other, and there was a small sphere on the end like a sword pommel. Harry waved it and darkness enveloped the small shop for a few moments before fading away and returning the two wizards and one witch their sight. "Ah, very good Mr. Potter. Ten inches, Elderwood and Pine, with a Wampus Cat hair core. That hair was quite difficult to procure, I had to travel to America and barter for three weeks with a Cherokee wand crafter!"

"Did you say Elderwood _and_ Pine Mr. Ollivander?" Professor Mcgonagall queried. "I thought that wands were made from a single wood and a single core?"

"Yes, a common misconception. It is possible to use more than a single wood or core to craft a wand. However the more materials that you add the more difficult the process of crafter the wand becomes. Normally you only find dual material wands in custom jobs. I however, enjoy tinkering." Ollivander explained with an omniscient smile adorning his face. "Now that wand will be twenty-one galleons please." At the professors upraised eyebrow he quickly added "A dual material wand is far more expensive than a regular wand. However they also produce better results."

"I can't say I have ever met someone with such a wand before." Professor Mcgonagall commented dryly.

"Yes, well they are difficult wands to master and normally only bond with witches or wizards whom have reached their magical majority. Alas it has fallen out of favor to purchase a second wand and so these wands have gone unclaimed." Harry stared at the creepy old wand maker and then at his wand before pulling out his coin purse and counting twenty-one giant gleaming gold galleons and sliding them onto the counter with a large smile.

" _Let's go Professor,_ " Harry wrote. Turning the page he hurriedly scribbled another quick note. " _I want to see book about magic next!_ " Harry stared at the traditionally stern Transfiguration Professor with pleading eyes.

"Very well Harry. Let's continue shopping." Mcgonagall replied with a hidden smile behind her eyes. * _I swear the boy looks like he has the best of James and Lily in that face. No one will be able to resist him!_ * Professor Mcgonagall dutifully allowed herself to be dragged across Diagon Alley by the overly excitable eleven year old boy hoping that Albus had found Ignotus Potter in a much better situation. She had tried asking Harry if he knew where his brother was but all he said, or wrote rather, was that "Iggy" had left and was safe now. But said nothing on how or why his twin had left.

At Flourish and Blotts Harry purchased not only the required Hogwarts booklist but extra books on various aspects of magic and wizarding history. He had a book for various magical shields and wards, another on hexes, jinxes, and curses called "The Idiots Complete Guide to Hexes, Jinxes, and Curses." Another book on wandcrafting, although it didn't seem to have the information needed to actually craft a wand, merely explain some of the processes of the various steps such as selecting a wood or magical core, how different wand lengths affected the spells it casts and various minor trivia. While at Madam Malkin's Harry was sure to have Professor Mcgonagall ask for an entire wardrobe. While wizards did almost exclusively wear robes anything was better than the rags the orphanage pawned off on him. There was nothing wrong with them, at first anyways. But over the years the clothes had become more and more threadbare and rather than throw them out the orphanage would merely pass them on until they started falling apart, usually anyways. At every store Harry purchased something extra, things such as extra potion ingredients or fancier quills such as self inking quills and dictaquills. After finding the dictaquill Harry had hoped for a quill that would write his thoughts for him rather than needing to write whenever he wanted to speak.

It wasn't until Harry decided he wanted a familiar as well that they ran into any issues. Harry did not want or need an owl. During the school year he would have access to the school owls, not that he had anyone to write to anyways, and during the summer he could figure something else out. Cats were out as well since Harry was not particularly fond of the pompous, self important member of the animal kingdom. They reminded him too much of his cousin Dudley, doing whatever they want all day then whining the moment they perceive something as wrong, or to make you give them something, or just to hear their own voice. Harry had wanted a dog, and had even argued with Professor Mcgonagall over it for nearly fifteen minutes but she refused to bend the rules for him in this manner as a dog was simply too rambunctious for a school environment. Harry had been ready to leave without a familiar when he spotted a shelf holding several dozen eggs with multiple signs overhead that read, "Test your luck!" "Only 15 galleons!" and "Win a creature of legend today!" in massive red letters.

Tugging on the professors sleeve and pointing at the eggs, Harry showed Mcgonagall a note that said " _What are those?_ "

"That Mr. Potter," Mcgonagall said sternly as she glared at the shopkeepers, "is a scam. They claim that one of the eggs holds a true Mayan Vision Serpent. But as only one in a thousand of their eggs actually produce a Vision Serpent; so they are incredibly rare. I doubt that any of these eggs are anything other than ordinary corn snakes." Harry stared at the eggs, and upon getting a strange feeling he focused his eyes on them like when he was able to see the professor glowing and sure enough one of the eggs was emitting a weak green and blue light. Harry picked up the egg and felt a warmth suffuse itself through his hands. He promptly placed the egg on the counter with the cash register and pulled out fifteen galleons. "Are you sure about this Mr. Potter? I warn you that you will most likely end up with a ordinary corn snake." Harry nodded his head with a small smile and waited as the shopkeeper wrapped the egg up so it could travel safely, and handed Harry a small brochure outlining the basic requirements of the average snake.

With everything in Diagon Alley taken care of Minerva Mcgonagall led Harry Potter to the Leaky Cauldron and through the floo to "Mcgonagall Lodge" where she resided during the summer, well most summers anyways, or perhaps just some summers, every now and again. However often she did or didn't summer at Mcgonagall Lodge, the house elves appeared far too happy to Harry's eyes for the professors return and so Harry assumed that the elder woman simply chose to remain at Hogwarts most summers. With a quick explanation of the rules, simple and reasonable rules such as "No running indoors" or "No food in the library" and of course "Eat all your vegetables Harry" Harry was left to his own devices for the remaining few weeks before school started. While some might say it was inappropriate for a teacher to invite a young child into her home for an extended period of time, Minerva Mcgonagall felt that returning poor Harry to that damnable orphanage would be far worse. She would be willing to fight anyone who said otherwise.

* _This is it!_ * Harry thought with excitement as he boarded the Hogwarts Express. * _I'm finally going to see what else magic can do! And I'll be the strongest of them all!_ * Harry grinned to himself as he entered an empty compartment and flopped unceremoniously onto the seat. Rather than struggle to push his trunk up onto the overhead carriers Harry fished out a book on wizarding families and history and gestured with his empty hand to easily put the heavy, book laden trunk in its place. Harry's first visitor did not arrive until after the train had left the station, A pale faced, blonde haired, ponce looking fellow with two Dudley Dursley look alikes flanking him took one look at the book in Harry's hand and walked away, muttering under his breath about "Stupid mudbloods". Harry's next visitor however was far more polite.

"Hermione Granger, nice to meet you." The bushy haired brunette spoke somewhat imperiously, as though she were trying to sound older than she really was, and she punctuated the end of her sentence by stiffly thrusting her hand out. Harry responded with a smile and shook her hand gently before rifling through his pockets for his notepad. "It's rude not to give your name when someone introduces themselves!" Hermione sniffed in displeasure, thinking that she had just been snubbed yet again; and without even a chance to prove herself to the other children. Harry was used to this sort of reaction from people and continued until he pulled out the small black leather covered notepad and opened it to the first page where he had written a phrase he expected to have to use quite a bit for the first few weeks of school.

" _My name is Harry Potter, I can't speak._ " Hermione glared for a moment before reading the short note in its large blocky letters that Harry had spent nearly forty minutes coloring in to make it as easy and quick to read as possible.

"Oh, OH! I'm so sorry! I didn-" Hermione was stopped before her rambling could truly get underway by a single long finger pressed against her lips and Harry shaking his head.

" _You couldn't have known. Forget about it._ " Harry penned on the notepad " _It's nice to meet you Herminey Granger._ "

"That isn't how you spell my name…" Hermione deadpanned. Harry responded with an apologetic look and passed the notepad to her to spell out her antiquated and difficult to spell name for the boy who so far seemed to be her first friend. The two children talked, or rather Hermione talked as Harry listened, nodding along and writing the occasional question.

Eventually Harry asked, " _When did you discover your magic?_ " Hermione pondered the question for a few moments before replying.

"Well, my parents think I did accidental magic for the first time when I was four years old but we didn't know I was a witch until Professor Mcgonagall came to tell us about magic and Hogwarts and everything!"

" _What did you think the magic was? What have you done so far?_ "

"Well… I haven't actually done any magic yet. Not on purpose anyways." Hermione admitted as she hung her head slightly. "I'm going to be the best witch I can though!" It took Hermione a few moments to realize just what Harry had implied in his question but when she did her jaw dropped and she was looking at Harry quite differently. "Ha-have you done magic already? Can you show me?" The bushy haired witch asked timidly. Harry showed off a giant smile for his new friend (or so he hoped) and with a wave of his hand Hermione started floating in the air towards him until she landed softly in his lap. Harry grinned at Hermione as she gaped back at him. "Ohmigodhowdidyoudothat?Wherewasyourwandbutyoudidn'tuseawandandIwasjustsittingthereandnowI'm… now I'm…" Hermione trailed off as she looked down to see that Harry had wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her from falling off of his lap and let out a small girly shriek. "EEP!" Hermione pushed herself from Harry's lap, or at least attempted to as Harry held on tighter to stop her from pushing herself to the floor and started sliding her onto the seat beside him.

" _You're too easily impressed._ " Harry wrote once a furiously blushing Hermione was properly situated, smirking as he watched her read his short sentence.

"How did you even do that? I didn't see you use your wand at all!" The eager Muggleborn witch questioned.

" _That's easy. I've been doing the basic Jedi stuff for years now._ "

"Jedi stuff?" Hermione asked with a confused look on her face. Harry nodded and started to frantically scribble in his notepad before handing it to Hermione.

" _When I started doing magic on purpose I thought I was becoming a Jedi._ " Hermione read the page and flipped to the next. " _Like in Star Wars!_ " Harry had written 'Star Wars' in large bold letters and surrounded it with little black stars so that it took up the entirety of the little page so Hermione flipped to the next. " _At first I could only do Force Push but I was able to figure out Force Pull easy enough. Force-_ " another flip of the page, "- _jump was a lot tougher but I got it. From there I worked out Force speed too!_ " Flipping another page Hermione tiredly read on, wishing they could communicate more quickly. " _There's some other stuff too but I shouldn't show them here. It's too small._ " Flipping the page and seeing that she had reached the end of Harry's note Hermione smiled at having found such a amazing friend. Someone who could already do magic without even being taught!

"Harry?" Hermione spoke softly and bit her bottom lip, looking from side to side as she screwed up the courage to ask one simple question. "I um," Harry waited patiently for the girl to vocalize her thoughts and wondered if he would have such a hard time saying what he was thinking if he were able to speak as well. "I was uh, wondering if maybe…. You wanted to be my friend?" The bushy haired girl hid her face behind her small hands and blushed. Harry simply smiled and waited for her to show her face again so he could nod. The two children sat beside each other for several hours as the train chugged along before being interrupted.

"Excuse me, may I sit with you two?" Harry and Hermione paused their conversation to look at the intruder. He looked their age, but was taller than either of them, and his height combined with his dark skin made him stand out from the other children they had seen running about. "The people I was sitting with were just terrible..." The dark skinned boy explained as neither Harry nor Hermione had answered his question for several seconds. Harry was still trying to evaluate the boy and Hermione was waiting to see what Harry would say. As her first -and only- friend, Hermione did not want to do anything that would upset Harry lest he decide he was better off without her; like everyone else already had. Harry could see some sort of pink haze surrounding the dark boy when he really focused but none of his instincts were saying anything negative so the mute boy nodded and smiled, gesturing to the seat across from himself and Hermione. "My name is Blaise Zabini, nice to meet you both."

"I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Harry Potter." Hermione answered as Harry flipped back in his notebook.

" _My name is Harry Potter, I can't speak._ " Blaise read Harry's note and gave him a doubtful look. Harry could tell that the other boy did not think he would be able to do magic properly without being able to speak the spells and so wrote another note. " _Verbal magic is overrated._ " Harry smirked at Blaise as he read. The three eleven year olds used the remaining time to talk about themselves and what their lives were like before Hogwarts. Or rather, Hermione and Blaise talked while Harry listened lots. It was the start of a beautiful friendship. 

_So there we go, Harry has a wand, lots of books, and 2 friends. You may be wondering about gringotts but I left that out as nothing interesting happens there. He goes, see's his trust vault, gets excited. Basically like cannon, and I'm not here to rehash cannon the entire time. Next chapter we move onto Hogwarts, see who is sorted where, and finally meet The-Boy-Who-Lived. Will Iggy and Harry have heartfelt reunion? Why were they seperated? How will Harry handle living in his brothers shadow? To find these answers and more I suggest that you fave and follow this story! Many thanks to those of you who already have, seeing my inbox being filled with notifications about my story being favorited and followed made me smile so THANK-YOU!_

 _Also, anyone who has questions just shoot me a PM and we can chat. Please review! Have a great day!_


	3. The Sorting

_Last time on Darkness Rising…_

 _Harry picked up the middle wand and inspected it. The wood appeared to be two different shades of brown that twisted and entwined with each other, and there was a small sphere on the end like a sword pommel. Harry waved it and darkness enveloped the small shop for a few moments before fading away and returning the two wizards and one witch their sight. "Ah, very good Mr. Potter. Ten inches, Elderwood and Pine, with a Wampus Cat hair core…."_

" _Are you sure about this Mr. Potter? I warn you that you will most likely end up with a ordinary corn snake." Harry nodded his head with a small smile and waited as the shopkeeper wrapped the egg up so it could travel safely, and handed Harry a small brochure outlining the basic requirements of the average snake…._

" _My name is Harry Potter, I can't speak." Hermione glared for a moment before reading the short note in its large blocky letters that Harry had spent nearly forty minutes coloring in to make it as easy and quick to read as possible_

" _Oh, OH! I'm so sorry! I didn-" Hermione was stopped before her rambling could truly get underway by a single long finger pressed against her lips and Harry shaking his head._

" _You couldn't have known. Forget about it." Harry penned on the notepad "It's nice to meet you Herminey Granger."_

" _That isn't how you spell my name…" Hermione deadpanned…._

" _My name is Blaise Zabini, nice to meet you both."_

" _I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Harry Potter." Hermione answered as Harry flipped back in his notebook._

" _My name is Harry Potter, I can't speak." Blaise read Harry's note and gave him a doubtful look. Harry could tell that the other boy did not think he would be able to do magic properly without being able to speak the spells and so wrote another note. "Verbal magic is overrated." Harry smirked at Blaise as he read…._

 _And now..._

Harry Potter stood in the middle of the great hall, watching as his yearmates were sorted into each house at the whims of a magical singing hat! * _How does a musical hat decide what house we should go to? Wouldn't it make more sense to have some sort of test? Or to let us choose?_ * Harry thought to himself as "Macmillan Ernest" was sorted into Hufflepuff. Hermione had already been sorted into Gryffindor,and Blaise was stuck going last since his last name was Zabini, with a Zed. Harry had smiled when Hermione pointed that fact out to their Italian friend. Harry had yet to see his twin Iggy, but he had not tried particularly hard to find him either. It had been years since he had seen his twin and Harry was far more interested in his new friends if he was honest with himself. But then he heard Professor Mcgonagall call out "Potter, Harry" and so Harry walked forward and sat on the stool in front of the entire school. As the deputy headmistress gently placed the Sorting Hat on his head, Harry spied a dark haired boy waving at him frantically, and Harry knew he had found his twin.

* _Well aren't you a unique one?_ * Harry heard a masculine and extremely deep voice speak in his mind.

* _Oh yes, when was the last time we saw someone like this? The mid-twelve-hundreds?_ * Another voice popped in, this time extremely feminine, and seductive. Harry could practically see the owner of the voice licking her lips and staring at him like a piece of meat.

* _We're scaring the poor boy,_ * A third voice -feminine again- spoke in Harry's mind, prompting him to wonder if magic was all a fairytale and he was actually insane, * _oh you aren't going insane little one. My name is Helga, the other two are Rowena and Salazar._ *

* _L-like the founders?_ * Harry asked meekly.

* _Exactly boy!_ * spoke the masculine voice belonging to Salazar. * _Using advanced charms, enchanting, and a dab of alchemy the four of us created the Sorting Hat and placed aspects of ourselves into it in order to sort all the future students of our great school. When the Sorting Hat is placed on a child's head we are able to peer into their minds, hearts, and even souls so that we may properly sort you._ * Salazar drawled on bragging about his incredible achievements until Rowena spoke, her voice sending shivers down Harry's spine.

* _How we have done this matters little Harry Potter, but when someone is especially suited to more than one house we come forth and take a more direct approach._ *

* _Yes, you dear are suitable for any of our three houses._ * Helga spoke and her voice left Harry feeling like he was being enveloped by a soft warmth, ready to protect him. Although it was tempting, Harry decided that he didn't like the feeling. It made him feel as though there was nothing wrong in the world, and no threats lurking. But it was a lie, there was almost everything wrong with the world and the threats weren't just lurking, they were screaming bloody murder. * _Hmm, well perhaps Hufflepuff isn't the place for you after all Harry. What do you think Rowena?_ * Helga spoke with a tinge of sadness inflected into her motherly voice. Helga Hufflepuff firmly believed that Harry Potter would make a great addition to her house, and that he would find a great deal of acceptance and friendship there. But it would not work if he was resistant to the very idea of it.

* _You would make a… wonderful Ravenclaw Harry._ * Rowena whispered into Harry's ear. He had no idea how she did it, but she did. * _The magic you could discover, the knowledge that you could hold Harry, don't you want to discover what magic is truly capable of?_ * Rowena was whispering seductively, and Harry could swear that he felt a pair of hands softly caressing him as she spoke. If he didn't know better he would even say that he could feel her hot breath on his ear as she spoke his name almost reverently. Harry thought back to what magic he had already discovered, and without any help. How amazed Hermione had seemed by it. But he hadn't discovered how to use his power out of a love for learning or a love for magic. Magic was a tool that he had learned to use out of necessity. It was a weapon to be aimed at those who would hurt him, which just so happened to be a list far longer than any child should ever have. * _So close… And you're so cute too. But now it's Salazar's turn._ *

* _Hmph. I could have told you from the start that he was going to join me._ * Salazar gloated snidely.

* _Yes yes, Get over yourself Salazar._ * Quipped Rowena. Harry could tell that Salazar was about to respond when Helga shushed the both of them.

* _Well what do you say boy?_ * Salazar asked Harry. * _Do you want to join my house of Slytherin? We are the house of cunning, of ambition, of… power._ * Salazar spoke the final word with a surprising reverence. * _I do not promise you happiness, or family, or great riches, but join Slytherin and become strong enough that no one will dare hurt you again, just as I did all those years ago._ * Harry could feel a connection to the words the Salazar spoke. He wanted power, it was why he had taught himself how to use what magic he already had, it was why he had come to Hogwarts. Harry didn't want to fight, but if the fight came to him he wanted to win, and to win in a fashion so great, that no one else would try to hurt him.

Suddenly Harry felt the Sorting Hat atop of his head moving, then it shouted "SLYTHERIN!" loudly enough to ensure that everyone could hear it. The silence was deafening. No one spoke, no one moved, not even Harry. He wasn't sure why, but nearly the entire school seemed dismayed at his sorting. The Gryffindors had looks of disbelief plastered on their faces, the Hufflepuffs were looking anywhere but at him or the Slytherins, Ravenclaw didn't seem to care as much but there were a few dirty glares and gobsmacked looks from their table as well. Slytherin was mostly unreadable, they kept their silence and schooled their expressions into nearly perfect neutrality, a few could not hide their sneers however.

Professor Mcgonagall lifted the now silent Sorting Hat from Harry's head and gently pushed him in the direction of the Slytherin table. Harry glanced up at her and received a gentle smile in return so he hurried off and sat at the end of the table. By the time Harry sat down the Deputy Headmistress had already called "Potter, Ignotus." and the other Potter twin dashed up to the Sorting Hat, jumped on the stool, and practically snatched said hat away from the elderly transfiguration mistress in his eagerness to be sorted. While a part of Iggy Potter wanted to be sorted into Slytherin so that he would be reunited with his long lost twin brother but the way the rest of the school had reacted to him being placed in Slytherin made him nervous. Plus Hagrid had already told him that all the Dark Wizards that had followed "You-Know-Who" were all from Slytherin. He didn't really want to go to the house of Dark Wizards. Who knew how long it would take them to try and get revenge for his defeat of the Dark Lord. Iggy's fears were for naught though, as he was promptly sorted into Gryffindor. The entire Gryffindor table exploded into cheers, shouting, clapping, and two redheaded twins even jumped on top of the table to dance a little jig while chanting "We got Potter! We got Potter!" over and over again at the top of their considerably loud voices. The difference between Harry's sorting and Iggy's sorting was night and day as the silence of Harry's sorting was exchanged for headache inducing cheering for his famous twin brothers sorting. Harry wondered for a moment if he would have received a similar welcome before tossing the idea aside. Harry knew from experience that there was no point in pondering what could have been.

 _Meanwhile at the Head Table…_

Dumbledore smiled in the kind grandfatherly manner of his as he stared out at the hundreds of children and teenagers staring up at him. The sorting had finished and it was time for the customary Headmaster's speech to welcome the new students and welcome back the returning ones. The Headmaster stood from his golden throne-like chair and twinkled his eyes at the young ones across the tables from him and continued to give his patented grandfather smile as he waved his hands in front of him and gave a most inspirational speech. "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank You." The esteemed Headmaster ignored the various looks of confusion pointed at him in favor of spearing a sausage link with his golden fork. * _That ought to inspire those brats to actually do some studying for once!_ * Dumbledore thought to himself snidely. * _Just look at them, they're like wild animals! That Weasley boy over there may as well be making sweet love to that roast boar over there. Interesting… Diggory has four more stalks of asparagus than he usually does. Does it mean something? Is it a sign? How am I supposed to lead these children and shape them into the great leaders of tomorrow when they are so bloody reclusive about what team they play for!_ * Dumbledore was seething on the inside but outwardly he showed nothing more than his usual benign personality. * _My Lemon Drops work quite nicely, charmed so only individuals of a 'certain persuasion' are willing to eat them. I need something more effective though, perhaps I could tinker with the charm and make it work with pudding instead? I must look into that..._ * Dumbledore spent the rest of the Entrance Feast lost in thought, working out how to best guide this generation of Witches and Wizards.

Meanwhile Ignotus Potter was already making friends at the Gryffindor table, Harry could see his twin brother laughing with a boy he remembered being called Firragem, or Fingergan; something like that. The two young wizards were smushing their noses and appeared to be making oinking noises while pointing at a redhead the same age a few chairs down from them. Hermione noticed Harry staring at her table and excitedly waved at her new friend, knocking her pumpkin juice into an older boys plate of mashed potatoes, roast beef, veggies and gravy. Blaise snickered beside Harry as he noticed the awkwards girl's actions. Harry very lightly elbowed Blaise in the side to gain his attention and shook his head at him. Blaise thought that Harry might have been upset but noticed a tiny smile hidden on the twins face.

Once the Entrance Feast had concluded and Headmaster Dumbledore had sent the screaming children to bed for the night he retreated to his own personal quarters before his Deputy Headmistress started harassing him about the insignificant Potter twin. "Is he truly so insignificant though?" Dumbledore asked no one in particular while deftly unwrapping a Lemon Drop candy and popping it into his mouth. "His sorting was unusually long, nine minutes and thirteen seconds to be exact. Those are magically significant numbers…." The elder warlock mused to himself and absentmindedly stroked the headfeathers of his Phoenix familiar as he pondered the possible implications of the less important Potter twin's sorting.

 _In the Slytherin common room…_

"Listen up firsties," Gemma Farley, the 5th year Slytherin Prefect called out, "in a few minutes our head of house Professor Snape will arrive to speak with all of you. Do NOT interrupt him or you will be dicing bloody toad dicks for a month. Keep all your questions to yourselves until the end when the Professor allows you to ask." A few of the eleven year olds sneered as the Prefect spoke, Harry was able to identify them as Theo Nott, Daphne Greengrass, and something Goyle. Harry was normally better with names but somehow both what's-his-name Crabbe and something-or-other Goyle both seemed so… bland. So boring and useless. Harry could barely even see any shimmering light when he focused his eyes on them. The sneering wizards and witch were born to noble families, they would not be forced to do something as debasing and humiliating as prepare potion ingredients like a common house elf. It was acceptable to prepare potion ingredients for you own use, but to do so for another was plebeian. Heirs to rich and powerful magical families were anything but plebeian after all. Harry and Blaise shared a look of amusement as they both noticed the sneers.

"Bet you a sickle that Nott ends up in detention by the end of the night." Blaise whispered into Harry's ear as he leaned in closely. Harry responded by deepening his smirk and shaking his head no. Harry covered his chest with his hands as though holding a pair of breasts to indicate that he thought that the girl would get detention first. As there was only one girl this time - Daphne Greengrass - it was easy for Blaise to realize who Harry was trying to mention. With a smile, a nod, and a quick handshake the bet was placed and the two young friends settled in to wait for their head of house to arrive and see who caused trouble first. Little did they know, Professor Severus Snape was already in the Slytherin common room and had arrived barely a minute and a half ahead of the students. He did this every year, arrive early to wait in the shadows and see how his newest batch of little snakes would react when they thought him absent. It was a good trick, and it let him know that Theo Nott and Daphne Greengrass would likely need to be forced to respect him. Forcing them to prepare disgusting potions ingredients would do that quickly, especially once they learned that their fathers could not and would not interfere over something so utterly trivial as a schoolchild's detention. The head of Slytherin house waited a few more moments before choosing to appear directly behind his newest batch of snakes and cleared his throat. The greasy haired professor had to hide the smirk that threatened to appear as he heard the eleven year olds all gasp and jump as he revealed himself, or most of them anyways.

"I am Professor Snape. Your… head of house." Snape glared lightly at the children, ensuring that they each listened properly. "As such, I am responsible for ensuring that you each reach the end of your school year without encountering any… unsavory accidents." Professor Snape spoke with a deliberate tone. "You are Slytherin, and for that reason alone you will be suspected and hated. Due to this there are three very simple rules that each of you must follow unless you wish to find yourself spending the entire school year pickling toad liver. First and most importantly every Slytherin student must stand united before the rest of the school. We are each others only allies and we must support each other. If there is an issue between housemates that can not be solved with mere conversation then you will bring the problem to me and I shall officiate a duel if I feel there is enough reason. Secondly, you are not to travel the halls alone. You must have at least one classmate with you at all times, preferably two or three. Last rule, you will find yourself in situations where you want revenge, to humiliate or hurt another student here. You must not be caught nor do anything that will cause lasting damage. If you are idiotic enough to let yourself be caught then I shall privately double or triple whatever punishment the lion loving staff doles out for you." Snape sneered as he finished his small speech and waited to make sure that the first years had absorbed what he said before continuing. Most of them were from Slytherin families and already understood, or at least knew of the situation. Some of the first years would not know however, Bulstrode for example; most of her family had been Ravenclaws with some Slytherin and the occasional Hufflepuff. Zabini was an Italian family and had not been in England long enough to truly understand the bigotry against Slytherin house. Lastly there was Potter, the first Slytherin in a long line of Gryffindors.

The Slytherin head of house was tempted to hate Harry Potter by default, yet his keen eyes had already spotted things that made him question pushing his hatred for James Potter onto his disgusting spawn. Severus Snape had yet to see the Potter brat speak a single word to anyone, what sort of snot nosed eleven year old dunderhead doesn't talk to anyone on their first night in Hogwarts? Not only that but the boy was far too aware, he was watching everyone and keeping them in his sight. He was being discreet about it but the Potion Master had far more experience than any eleven year old could ever possibly boast. If that wasn't enough to confuse Snape there was also the fact that the other Potter twin, was exactly what he had expected. Loud, happy, popular, egotistical, self important, he was just like his damnable father and just thinking about it made Snape want to glare, sneer, and curse the Potter name into oblivion. Instead he cleared his mind and continued speaking. "Some of you may wonder why we have these rules, when no one else does… This is because we are hated. When someone is hurt, we will be blamed first. When something is stolen, we will be the first accused. When anything goes wrong, they shall think of us before any other. In this school being sorted into Slytherin is like wearing a shirt that says 'future dark wizard in training'. They assume that merely by being sorted into the house of the cunning and ambitious that we kidnap Hufflepuffs, torture Ravenclaws, and perform dark rituals with the blood of dunderheaded Gryffindors. Now go to bed, think on what I have said. If you have any questions I will make myself available for thirty minutes before breakfast and two hours after dinner each day." With his piece spoken the surly head of house turned on his heels and marched out of the Slytherin common room, flaring his robes as he went. The prefects quickly showed the first years to their dorms where two to three students would each share a room. Harry Potter, Theo Nott, and Blaise Zabini quickly shuffled into one room to avoid having to room with the pampered Malfoy prince or his two stooges. Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode took a room while Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis shared the final room together. Nearly everyone in the magical castle were finishing there night time rituals, Hermione had already written a letter to her parents about the two friends she had made, Ignotus was taking full advantage of his fame to make himself the leader of the first year Gryffindor boys, Draco wrote his father about one of the Potter twins sorting as a Slytherin, Harry and Blaise wisely went straight to bed.

AN: This chapter is shorter than I meant for it to be, I had a tough time writing Snape for some reason. Well next chapter Harry will meet Ignotus and begin classes. Please follow, favorite, and review! Thanks for reading!


	4. Sink or Swim

_**Last time on Darkness Rising…**_

 _*We're scaring the poor boy,* A third voice -feminine again- spoke in Harry's mind, prompting him to wonder if magic was all a fairytale and he was actually insane, *oh you aren't going insane little one. My name is Helga, the other two are Rowena and Salazar.*_

 _*You would make a… wonderful Ravenclaw Harry.* Rowena whispered into Harry's ear. He had no idea how she did it, but she did. *The magic you could discover, the knowledge that you could hold Harry, don't you want to discover what magic is truly capable of?* Rowena was whispering seductively, and Harry could swear that he felt a pair of hands softly caressing him as she spoke._

 _*Well what do you say boy?* Salazar asked Harry. *Do you want to join my house of Slytherin? We are the house of cunning, of ambition, of… power.* Salazar spoke the final word with a surprising reverence. *I do not promise you happiness, or family, or great riches, but join Slytherin and become strong enough that no one will dare hurt you again, just as I did all those years ago.* Harry could feel a connection to the words the Salazar spoke. He wanted power, it was why he had taught himself how to use what magic he already had, it was why he had come to Hogwarts._

 _While a part of Iggy Potter wanted to be sorted into Slytherin so that he would be reunited with his long lost twin brother but the way the rest of the school had reacted to him being placed in Slytherin made him nervous. Plus Hagrid had already told him that all the Dark Wizards that had followed "You-Know-Who" were all from Slytherin. He didn't really want to go to the house of Dark Wizards. Who knew how long it would take them to try and get revenge for his defeat of the Dark Lord. Iggy's fears were for naught though, as he was promptly sorted into Gryffindor. The entire Gryffindor table exploded into cheers, shouting, clapping, and two redheaded twins even jumped on top of the table to dance a little jig while chanting "We got Potter! We got Potter!"_

" _I am Professor Snape. Your… head of house." Snape glared lightly at the children, ensuring that they each listened properly. "As such, I am responsible for ensuring that you each reach the end of your school year without encountering any… unsavory accidents."_

 _And now…_

One eleven year old Harry Potter was feeling uncharacteristically nervous as he strode through the tall castle halls. Classes weren't due to start until the day after tomorrow, why Hogwarts wanted the students to arrive on a friday night and spend the whole weekend running underfoot of the staff was beyond him. At breakfast that morning Harry received a note from a stunningly beautiful snowy owl and that note was the source of his nervousness. His twin brother Ignotus "Iggy" Potter wanted to meet him by the Black Lake after breakfast. What would he be like? He hadn't seen his twin in nearly four years. Harry shook himself out of his thoughts as he approached the Black Lake, berating himself for being too lost in thought to realize how close he was to his destination. Harry could see Iggy skipping stones along the surface of the lake, or attempting to anyways. Remembering the old game the two of them played during that short amount of time that they had both been in Ser Jory's Orphanage. Iggy would spend an hour trying to skip a rock on the river that had been near them while Harry grinned and laughed soundlessly until he used "The Force" -now known as magic- to lift a dozen stones and makes them skip circles around his twin. With a smile Harry lifted both his hands up, causing dozens of little stones to float into the air, with a flick of his fingers and a twist of the wrist the stones shot forward zooming past Iggy and skipping over the surface of the water. As Harry twisted his wrist and flicked his fingers again the stones circled around and started to skip in a perimeter around the famous twin.

xXx

Ignotus Potter smiled as he felt his twins magic in the air again after so many years. He watched as dozens of pebbles zoomed past him, moving so fast that they ruffled his hair and robes and the passed. Ignotus watched as the pebbles turned around and skipped back towards him, not turning around until the little rocks were circling around him like a tornado or a hurricane. "HARRY!" Ignotus shouted as he jumped at his twin brother, tightly wrapping his arms around him. "I knew you would come here!" Iggy and Harry were both grinning foolishly.

" _Did the muggles treat you well Iggy?_ " Harry signed, hoping his twin could remember the American sign language that the social worker had taught them after being placed in the orphanage.

"They're good. They feed me, buy me toys, and they don't hit me for making a mistake. They're busy a lot but they make sure I'm taken care of." Iggy signed flawlessly and spoke at the same time, bringing a gigantic smile to his mute twins face. Iggy noticed the smiles sudden appearance and sighed. "Did you think I was going to forget how to sign?"

" _Well, it's not like you had anyone to practice with right?_ " Harry admitted sheepishly.

"Well Mother and Father hired a tutor to help me practice every week so I wouldn't forget."

" _They got you a tutor? Really?_ "

"Yup." Iggy replied nonchalantly while rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet. The twins smiled at each other and spent the next several hours regaling each other with the exciting tales of their lives. Iggy told Harry about the multitude of vacations that he was brought on. Everywhere from New York City where he tried pizza for the first time, to a tiny village in Vietnam where he swam in a river with a school of fish. Harry on the other hand "spoke" of how he had trained his magic and the amazing things he had learned to do with it, as well as the things he was still trying to accomplish. It wasn't until their wild energetic stories had turned into whispers that Iggy was able to draw up the famous Gryffindor courage to ask his twin the one question that had plagued him for the past four years. "Do you hate me Harry?" He asked softly.

" _Hate you? Why would I hate you?_ " Harry stared at his twin, confused.

"I- I left. They came and took me, and I just left you behind..." Iggy admitted as he sniffled.

" _I told you to go. The orphanage wasn't much better than the Dursleys. The adults may not have done anything but every single one of the other kids were like a mini Dudley. It was better for you to go with them._ " Harry signed solemnly.

"But I left you to deal with them alone and I went to theme parks and fancy hotels around the world. It's not fair!" Iggy raised his voice as he spoke, not enough to be shouting but enough to show how emotional that this subject made him. "You were always the strong one, protecting me… It should have been you who got to do that. Not me."

" _It's good that you got to escape when you did Iggy. My magic is so powerful isbut that is because I needed it. There were times that I could barely protect myself. I don't know what I would have done if you were there too Iggy. And I would hate for you to be stuck there instead of me._ " Harry signed quickly with one hand while placing the other on his twins shoulder. " _Besides, now we are both here and we are going to become the two most powerful Wizards that the world has ever seen! Believe it!_ " Harry grinned at his sullen-faced twin and gave him a thumbs up.

"I guess you're right again Harry." Iggy admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "Well I don't know about you but I'm starving! I think dinner is supposed to be soon right?" Harry merely shrugged in response and started walking towards the Great Hall. Upon seeing the four house tables lined out in front of them the twins separated, each going to the opposite end of the hall.

"Hey Harry." Blaise greeted with a smile. "You and your brother get along?" Harry nodded quickly and started to pile his plate high with mashed potatoes, sausages, and enough gravy to drown Mrs. Norris in. "It looks like Hermione is making friends with your brother." Harry turned his gaze away from his plate of gravy drenched potatoes and spotted Hermione talking animatedly with Iggy. They were both grinning Harry noted, although Iggy seemed to have a permanent smile plastered on his little face ever since arriving at Hogwarts. Hermione seemed like she was a bit too book crazed for your average Gryffindor, but Harry was glad that she was able to make a friend outside of Slytherin. Harry shrugged and smiled at his dark friend and silently returned his attention to his plate of food. Several other Slytherins had been watching Harry closely, hoping to learn where his allegiances laid. Each of said Slytherins were utterly disappointed by their failure to learn anything about him other than an apparent love for bangers and mash. Such was not the case for one Severus Snape however, for he learned as much from what he didn't see as from what he did see. The slippery spymaster stole another glance at the less famous Potter twin and knew that he was different from the other children, he had yet to speak a single word in over a day and was constantly aware of the people around him, Snape could see how Harry discreetly scanned the Great Hall every few minutes to confirm everyone's position. In the common room the previous night Potter had ensured that he kept as many of the other Slytherins in his line of sight as possible. Severus Snape would have praised any of his Slytherins for showing such insight and forethought, yet in a mere first-year such revelations were troubling. With this in mind the Head of Slytherin gracefully finished his meal and returned to his quarters where he penned a short note ordering Mr. Harry Potter to report to his personal quarters for a discussion and told a house-elf to place the note on Harry's pillow so that he could not miss it. Before he gave the note away Snape quickly cast a small charm to alert him when Potter touched the note (to ensure that the spoiled brat could not claim that he simply did not see the note with his summons on it) and then let the elf go on its way.

xXx

It was nearly an hour after the Great Hall had been vacated when Severus Snape heard a soft knock on his door and a quick charm let him know that it was indeed Harry Potter whom was doing said knocking. Snape pushed himself out of the small plush chair that he was reading on and pulled the door open to allow his little Slytherin entrance. Harry stepped inside, his eyes flickering back and forth as he was led to the back of the small sitting room. There were several comfortable green plush chairs and a large black coffee table edged in silver, the room appeared to be quintessentially Slytherin. Snape gestured for the young Slytherin to sit with him and then waited, he waited for his young student to speak. To say anything at all in order to break the uncomfortable silence, even if just to ask why he had been summoned. It was a tactic that the greasy haired head of house had used to great success many times during his tenure on the Hogwarts staff. After the first two minutes Snape picked up a large yet expensive looking mug of tea (appearances were extremely important to most of the pureblood families whose children ended up in the house of snakes) and began to sip the warm beverage nonchalantly and waited for the eleven year old student to break. Five minutes later Snape was somewhat impressed.

* _I cannot remember the last time a student stood up to my silent treatment so stoically._ * Snape thought to himself as young Harry Potter patiently stared at his head of house as though this were simply an everyday occurance. * _The boy has certainly been abused by those muggles that doddering old headmaster placed the Potters with. Yet… the other Potter spawn does not show any of the typical signs that this one does. How interesting._ * Harry for his part was simply sitting comfortably in the silence, waiting to hear why he had been summoned. While Harry appeared to be the perfect picture of patience he was actually beginning to grow quite frustrated.

* _Why order me here if all he's going to do is drink and stare at me? Iggy is the famous one, not me._ * Through a unique combination of stubbornness and a inability to speak Harry was able to endure the frustrating silence and decided that rather than stare back at the annoyingly quiet as he had been doing that he would ignore him and look around the room. With this plan in mind, Harry stood up and turned left, then right in order to survey the room and noticed a large black oak bookcase along the right wall and walked right up to it as his head of house forced himself not to gape at the pure audacity that young Harry was showing. Harry ignored the young teacher (young by Hogwarts standards at least, he's less than half the age of most of the rest of the staff after all) and started reading the titles of the nearly one hundred book and tomes. There were large hardcover books with titles such as 'The Dark Arts and how they might eviscerate your foe', 'The Everyman's Endless Error Erasing Tonics and Charms', and 'Potions in Battle! For Fools or Genius's?'. There were also small leather bound tomes with titles like 'Darks Arts or Grey Arts?' and '84 Uncommon Uses For Moonstone'. Looking over at Snape, Harry waited for several seconds then turned back to the books and started to reach for one of the books when Severus Snape had decided that enough was enough!

"What! Do you think you are doing Potter?" Snape drawled with a silky inflection in his voice and a dangerous glare in his eyes. Harry stopped instantly, frozen with his hand in mid air and standing slightly on his toes as he reached for one of the many tomes.

Harry slowly turned around and faced the suddenly furious and glowering Potions Master and signed " _Waiting for you to tell me why you want me here._ " Snape narrowed his eyes as he watched Harry making strange yet definitive symbols with his right hand. After a moment Snape realized that he must be using muggle sign language, suddenly the boys strange behaviour made much more sense.

"You can't speak can you?" Snape asked, the previous anger in his voice nearly absent. Harry shook his head negatively in response and pulled a stack of flash cards out of his robes and started shuffling through them.

" _Verbal magic is overrated._ "

"Indeed it is." Snape smirked. * _This Potter brat could not be more Slytherin if he tried. The ambition needed to attend Hogwarts and learn magic that he shouldn't be expected to even try and perform until his sixth year is astounding to say the least. It would seem that at least this one is nothing like his dunderheaded father._ * "Silent magic is a difficult skill however, you may find that your classmates will have an easier time learning new spells. Especially for the first year or two. This is a skill that is not typically taught until you are nearly of age. Of course that is mostly because most students are simply too lazy or incompetent to learn the more subtle nuances of magic." Harry smiled and nodded, not really caring to write anything down and converse with his head of house. He had the feeling that his opinion was not particularly wanted in this instance anyways. "Very well Potter, you may return to the common room. Don't take any detours either or I'll have you scrubbing cauldrons every night for a month." Snape snapped out his threat condescending and waved young Harry Potter out.

XxX

It was finally Monday, that meant that classes would start and Harry would finally start to learn more magic. * _I hope they teach us something cool. Like how to turn people into toads. Or how to make a snowman come to life!_ * Harry thought to himself as he started walking out of the Great Hall and towards his first class.

"Harry! Harry! Wait for me Harry!" Hearing his name being called repeatedly Harry turned around to see one Hermione Jean Granger barreling towards him. Not that he knew Hermione's middle name was Jean or if she even had a middle name. But she was coming regardless of that knowledge. "Harry!" Hermione had a gigantic beaming smile plastered on her face as she nearly ran right into Harry. Harry smiled back warmly and waved in greeting of his first friend. "I've been practicing all weekend! I'm not very good yet but I can understand it! It really is fascinating, I don't know why more people don't learn it." Harry gave the bushy haired Gryffindor a confused look and tilted his head slightly. "Oh, you have no idea what I'm talking about do you? Okay just give me a moment..." Hermione shook her hands and wiggled her fingers for a second before starting to talk again, this time staring at her hands rather than looking at Harry. "I owled my parents after the sorting feast and asked them to send me a book on sign language."

Harry stared at Hermione with wide eyes and a gobsmacked look on his face as he watched Hermione perform sign language and excitedly signed a reply. " _Can you understand me?_ "

"Yes, but-"

" _There is a giant clown behind you._ "

"What!?" Hermione jumped and spun around, searching frantically for the clown for several seconds before she noticed Harry shaking in silent laughter. "Harry! You- you, aarrrgh!" Hermione stomped her foot and huffed in indignation at the childish trick.

" _You can really understand me! How?_ " Harry was beaming with happiness at the prospect of being able to easily talk with his friend. While he could hold a basic conversation with his flashcards, attempting a truly intellectual conversation with them would be time-consuming and frustrating.

"Well, my parents sent me a book to teach sign language Saturday and I spent the rest of the weekend studying it." Hermione replied with a shy smile, hoping that her studious nature and incredible intelligence wouldn't scare off her first friend like it had with all the children her age back home. "I um, I can't sign very well yet but I can understand you at least..."

" _You are amazing! I can't believe you were able to understand it so quickly. It took me months to learn!_ " Harry signed excitedly, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. " _We have charms together right? Let's go Hermione!_ " Hermione nodded, still showing her shy smile and followed Harry along to their first ever magical class.

XxX

One Harry Potter was slowly becoming incredibly frustrated as he watched his two friends, Hermione Granger and Blaise Zabini easily perform the simple levitation spell. Or rather Hermione had managed it nearly flawlessly and Blaise had managed to make his feather float erratically, as it would suddenly jump up several feet but then drop halfway after another moment. In the row behind them Iggy Potter had just managed to force his feather into the air for several seconds before dropping it on Ron Weasley's head when Professor Flitwick noticed the mute Potter twin (not that he knew said Potter was mute) glowering menacingly at his feather.

"Oho Mr. Potter. Are you having a spot of trouble with the spell?" The tiny Professor appeared in front of Harry with a friendly smile and Harry nodded his confirmation. "Alright well why don't you give it another try for me and we'll see what I can do for you hmm?" Harry let up on his glare towards the innocent feather and pointed his wand at it instead, had the feather been sentient it would likely be fearing for its life at this moment. With a perfect 'swish' and a wonderfully sharp 'flick' Harry attempted to push his magic through the ten inches of Elderwood and Pine in his hand and was rewarded with a astounding lack of movement from the assuredly non-sentient feather. "Ah, you need to say the incantation Mr. Potter. Win-gar-dee-um Levi-oh-sah. Incantation help to focus your magic for you, giving it greater intent." Every few years a muggleborn student would come along who thought that incantations were just names for spells, and as the Charms Professor knew that the Potter twins had been raised in the muggle world it was a safe assumption for him to think that this was the case for Harry as well. However Harry simply stared at the happy little Professor in disbelief, and then narrowed his eyes in anger. Fortunately Blaise jumped in before his friend could lose his temper.

"Actually Professor, Harry is mute. He can't speak. Shouldn't you know this already?" Blaise spoke with obvious disdain in his voice at his Professors lack of readiness.

"I- what? Have you informed any of the staff of this Mr Potter?" Professor Flitwick asked in surprise. Harry tapped Hermione on the shoulder to make sure she was watching him before signing his reply.

"Harry says that he told Professor Mcgonagall when she gave him his acceptance letter, and that he also informed Professor Snape just last night." Hermione translated for Harry beside him and the typically jovial charms master narrowed his eyes at Hermione's words.

"So Professor Mcgonagall has known about this for weeks then?" Professor Flitwick muttered to himself, although Harry still nodded in confirmation. "I am sorry Mr. Potter," Professor Flitwick spoke while looking directly at Harry. "Professor Mcgonagall should have ensured that the rest of the staff was informed of this." Professor Flitwick shook his head and took a moment to think before continuing. "Perhaps you can explain what you think the problem is to me Mr. Potter, and I can try to explain the magic to you more thoroughly. Magic is far more difficult to perform silently however and you may simply have to take more time to learn the spells."

Harry smiled for a moment at how the tiny Professor did not doubt his ability to learn silent magic at his young age before looking at his wand in disgust and starting to sign rapidly. " _This stupid wand is the problem, it makes my magic feel weird. I should be able to do this, I know I can do this, I do it all the bloody time!_ "

"Slow down Harry, I don't understand what you were saying at the end." Hermione whispered.

" _Sorry Hermione. Just tell him there's something wrong with my wand and that I can do this just fine without it._ " Hermione nodded and told their Professor exactly that.

"What do you mean you can do this just fine without your wand Mr. Potter?" Professor Flitwick asked curiously. Harry set his wand down on the table and flicked his index finger up after pointing it at his feather. The feather shot up to Harry's eye level and floated there easily.

"Incredible! Truly incredible!" Professor Flitwick muttered as he stared at Harry's feather. "How long have you been capable of wandless magic Mr. Potter?" Harry shrugged and help up his hand with all five fingers outstretched. "Are you saying that you have been performing magic for five years already?" Professor Flitwick question incredulously. Harry shook his head negatively and smirked at the tiny Professor. A few seconds later one Filius Flitwick was gaping at Harry in disbelief as his mind put the pieces together. "Since you were five years old? Well Mr. Potter, I think this is something that will require a bit more of a personal touch. I want you to stay behind after class. Mr Zabini, what class do you and Mr. Potter have next?"

"Defence against the Dark Arts Professor." replied Blaise.

"Very well, I want you to inform Professor Quirrell that Mr. Potter is staying behind at my request and may not make his class today." Professor Flitwick spoke with a serious yet happy tone of voice that only someone so amusingly small could possibly pull off.

"Yes Professor."

"Good, now I am going to help your classmates Mr. Potter, but once class is over I think I can help you, alright?" Harry nodded at the helpful Professor and leaned over to retrieve a book from his book bag, a text on wandlore to be exact. Harry skimmed through the table of contents and decided to look up the different kinds of wood used to craft wands, happy to research something interesting while he waited for the Professor to be able to give him the individual attention that he seemed to require.

XxX

"Now then Mr. Potter, why don't we take this to my office?" Professor Flitwick offered once the rest of the students had left to attend their next class. Harry nodded and followed the diminutive charms master to the front of the classroom and through a door near the corner of the wall. "These classrooms have a nifty little enchantment so that us Professors can easily travel to and from our office in an instant rather than rush halfway across the castle." Harry smiled and observed the room they had entered. The walls were painted in the traditional Ravenclaw colors, and there was a small painted eagle flying along the walls as though they were one massive magical portrait. The far wall was completely covered by shelves that held far more books than Harry could easily count, and there was a elegantly carved and very large yet extremely short desk in front of them and the desk held several dozen more books stacked on top of each other with a few opened to a seemingly random page. A copious amount of parchment covered in a tiny scrawl littered the desk as well. In the centre of the room was a oval shaped coffee table with a small but comfortable chair at both heads of the table and a leather couch along boths sides. There was a small tea set placed on the table which the professor quickly began to fiddle with. Harry sat on one of the leather couches and waited in silence for his charms professor. "Here you go Harry, may I call you Harry?" Filius Flitwick asked kindly as he floated a cup of steaming hot tea over to the young wizard.

Harry nodded as he carefully grabbed the teacup out of the air and held it between his hands, enjoying the warmth that seeped through the delicate china as he waited for it to cool enough to drink without scalding his tongue.

"Good, good. Well Harry, while I must say that your wandless magic is impressive it is also holding you back." Professor Flitwick paused as Harry shot him a confused look."I'm sure you thought that your experience in using your magic would give you an advantage but unfortunately it may make things a little more difficult to start. You see Harry, wandless magic and wanded magic work in very different ways."

Harry quickly pulled out his prewritten flashcards and held out one that said "How?"

"Well wandless magic is a powerful but primal force. One that very few are ever able to use so naturally. You can not cast spells wandlessly, instead you control raw magic to influence your surroundings." Flitwick paused a moment to sip his tea and continued. "Wanded magic is far more precise and allows for a infinitely greater amount of possibilities. For example, transfiguration is a branch of magic that is almost exclusively wanded magic. It is possible to conjure simple things wandlessly such as a block of stone but you won't be able to do anything that requires a attention to detail such as an animal or an attractive desk or chair. Some charms can be imitated through wandless magic as you have shown with the levitation charm but other more advanced charms such as animation charms that can be used to make a suit of armor move on its own can only be done through wanded magic. Do you understand so far Harry?"

Harry nodded but started scribbling on a blank flashcard. "But why is wand magic hard for me?" Professor Flitwick sipped his tea again and then waved his wand and allowed the teaset to refill his cup as he continued his explanation.

"Wandless magic is inherently different than wanded magic, not just in what they are each capable of but also in how you use magic itself. You cannot cast a spell with your wand in the same way that you perform wandless magic. It is like trying to eat a bowl of soup with a fork, it just won't work." Harry held out his cup to be refilled by the animated teatset and nodded as he began to understand what the charms professor was trying to explain. "So instead of trying to force your magic to simply do as you wish you need to focus it through your wand and allow it to create the effect you wish for. Do you think you can do that Harry?" Harry nodded with a discrete smile on his face and placed his tea cup on the table before pulling out his wand from his robe pocket. "Good, now why don't you try the levitation spell again? Now I know that you can't speak the incantation but I want you to say it in your head as you cast alright?"

Harry nodded again and pointed his ten inch wand at the white feather, taking a moment to compose himself first he 'swished' his wand, then followed it up with a sharp 'flick'. Harry pushed as much magic as he could through his wand, desperate to finally succeed at casting a wanded spell. Harry could feel his magic rushing through his arm and into his wand, he could imagine the feather soaring up into the air above his head, but it was not to be. Rather than float his feather Harry watched in dismay as it was burnt to a crisp instead.

"Well any result is a good result at this stage my boy." Professor Flitwick chuckled. "I think you simply used too much power. Here, try again." Professor Flitwick lazily waved his wand and a pristine white feather appeared on the table in front of Harry.

 **AN: Well, I think this is as good a spot as any to end this. For some reason I had a hard time writing the scene between Harry and Snape, but hopefully I got it right. I also know that in canon the charms lesson didn't happen until Halloween but this is AU and I felt that it was a good way to introduce Harry to the struggle of learning more traditional magic and set up Professor Flitwick as a sort of mentor for Harry. As for next chapter, we have some more lessons coming up and some screentime with everyones favorite ferret. As always, please fave, follow, and most of all, please review! You can also PM me if you want to chat about my story. I hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter.**


	5. From Rags to Riches

**AN: I have quoted Professor Mcgonagalls opening speech for her class, the rest of the words are all mine. Sadly, the same can not be said for the character's or Ron Weasley would not have remained Harry's best mate, and would possibly have been eaten alive by a horde of Acromantula in second year… Hmmm, that's actually worth considering hehehe.**

 _ **Last time on Darkness Rising…**_

 _Harry received a note from a stunningly beautiful snowy owl and that note was the source of his nervousness. His twin brother Ignotus "Iggy" Potter wanted to meet him by the Black Lake after breakfast. What would he be like?_

" _HARRY!" Ignotus shouted as he jumped at his twin brother, tightly wrapping his arms around him. "I knew you would come here!" Iggy and Harry were both grinning foolishly._

" _You can't speak can you?" Snape asked, the previous anger in his voice nearly absent. Harry shook his head negatively in response and pulled a stack of flash cards out of his robes and started shuffling through them._

 _Harry stared at Hermione with wide eyes and a gobsmacked look on his face as he watched Hermione perform sign language and excitedly signed a reply. "Can you understand me?"_

" _Actually Professor, Harry is mute. He can't speak. Shouldn't you know this already?" Blaise spoke with obvious disdain in his voice at his Professors lack of readiness._

" _I- what? Have you informed any of the staff of this Mr Potter?" Professor Flitwick asked in surprise. Harry tapped Hermione on the shoulder to make sure she was watching him before signing his reply._

 **And now…**

Tuesday morning found Harry Potter and Blaise Zabini walking leisurely towards the Transfiguration Classroom for the class that they were sharing with the Hufflepuffs. Draco Malfoy was walking several feet ahead ridiculing Neville Longbottom's pathetic flying skills, and pathetic magical skills while Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle walked beside him nodding their heads in agreement. "The poor bastard is practically a squib!" Malfoy scoffed. "I can't believe that Scarhead Potter thought he could tell me what to do. I hope he gets expelled for being caught flying without the teacher. Serves him right for being such a bloody noble Gryffindor!" Blaise and Harry were doing their level best to ignore the blonde haired brat but that was difficult to do when Harry was unable to speak and fill the silence, however as Blaise sighed and glared at Malfoys back for what seemed like the thousandth time Harry decided that enough was enough. With a quick flick of his wrists both Crabbe and Goyle tripped and they each started flailing their arms in an attempt to stay upright. This attempt backfired however as Malfoy was lightly pummeled in the face several times before he attempted to push the two larger boys away from him. When the two boys finally fell they inadvertently dragged their illustrious blonde leader down with them.

"Oy Malfoy, you piss off your bookends or something?" Blaise called out as he and Harry approached the tangled mess of limbs the three Slytherin first years had created.

"Gerrof me you imbeciles!" Malfoy shouted, ignoring the taunt for Blaise for the moment. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you two?"

"I dunno what happened Draco, I just started fallin." Goyle muttered in explanation. Crabbe was moaning in pain as the back of Malfoys extremely hard head had smashed directly between his legs as they landed on the floor. Harry smirked and Blaise chuckled at their three housemates and stepped around them as they continued on to their first Transfiguration class. As Slytherins they did not want to be late for a class taught by the head of Gryffindor, and Harry had a feeling that Professor Mcgonagall was no longer as fond of him as she seemed during the summer.

XxX

Harry and Blaise chose to sit in the centre back row of desks in the transfiguration classroom, or rather those were one of the few desks left as the two Slytherin boys had arrived with barely two minutes to spare. "I thought the professor would be here already," Blaise whispered in Harry's ear as he started arranging his note taking supplies, "I always hear that she's a hard-ass." Harry simply smirked and wrote the word "Cat" on the corner of some parchment that Blaise had laying in front of him. "Ohhh, that's wicked!" Both Slytherin boys started chuckling as Draco Malfoy, with his typically impeccable hair in a undignified mess and his two red-faced panting goons stumbled into the classroom nearly five minutes late.

"You idiots made me late! We're lucky the Gryffindork Professor isn't here yet." Draco sneered as he marched to the back corner desk where several Hufflepuffs were sitting and glared at them. "Move it 'Puffs. These are our seats now."

"No, if you wanted better seats you should have shown up on time like the rest of us." One of the boys responded. Harry couldn't be sure but he thought the boy's name was Hawkins, or Hopkins or something along those lines.

"I told you to mo-"

"That will be quite enough Mr. Malfoy." A stern faced Professor Mcgonagall called out from behind the blonde haired Slytherin. Said Slytherin paled and slowly turned around to see the Professor glaring at him. "Twenty points from Slytherin and detention with Filch tonight for being late and your utter lack of respect for your classmates. Now sit in one of the open seats." Malfoy glared and looked like he wanted to say something particularly unflattering but soon withered under the experienced professors own glare and stomped to one of the three open seats in the front row directly in front of Mcgonagall. After spending a few moments silently looking over each of the students with a stern but not unfriendly countenance Professor Mcgonagall started to lecture her class.

 _ **"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."**_

The class continued without much more difficulty, and Malfoy was particularly quiet as he attempted to avoid earning any more of the stern professors ire. At least until Mr. Filch knocked on the door as he pushed it open. "Pr'fessor, there's a matter that needs yer attention. Something about the Weasley twins y'see." Harry stared at the school's caretaker out of the corner of his eye, a skill he had learned in order to observe the people around him without attracting attention while in the Orphanage.

"Very well..." Professor Mcgonagall sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered something unintelligible under her breath. "No one is to leave their seats," the Transfiguration Mistress said sternly as she gazed down at the seated children, her gaze hardening as she looked over the Slytherin students. "I expect you all to begin reading the first three chapters of your Transfiguration textbook." With her orders given the Head of house Gryffindor briskly walked out of the classroom, following Mr. Filch to wherever the trouble was.

It took approximately seven minutes for Draco Malfoy to become bored and begin to lash out at his classmates. Looking around him he saw a small red headed girl with a splatter of freckles adorning her face and grinned wickedly. "Hey Bones, what is it like being raised by your Aunt? I hear she's so busy that she needs to arrange a different Auror babysitter for you every week." The girl stared at Malfoy with wide eyes and was about to retort when the blonde Slytherin continued. "Who can blame her anyways? It's not like she asked to be burdened with some smelly baby that her blood-traitor sister popped out. I wonder how many Aurors changed your dirty nappy? I once heard that some Auror forgot to file his paperwork and was ordered to change you only to be blasted by your fudge cannon if you know what I mean." Malfoy smirked as he could see that the Bones girl was only one more push away from breaking into tears. "I feel bad you really," Malfoy drawled "do you even see your Aunt or are you raised by house elves and Aurors? Father tells me that she's in her office practically twenty-four-seven." Malfoys smirk deepened as he felt that this was the final straw and that the small Hufflepuff girl was going to start bawling her eyes out any moment. He was rewarded for his efforts within three seconds as one Susan Bones ran out of the classroom, hands covering her face and audible sobs escaped her throat. Malfoy started laughing along with most of the other Slytherins while Harry and Blaise glared at the back of the blonde's head in unison.

Only a few minutes after Susan Bones ran out of the classroom Professor Mcgonagall strided back in and looked over all of the desks, her lips thinning as she saw an empty seat. "Professor," called out a long blonde haired Slytherin whom Harry identified as Daphne Greengrass, "Ms. Bones went to the infirmary. She wasn't feeling well." Daphne spoke softly with a perfect innocence, not even allowing herself a tiny smile that could give the Professor any reason to doubt her.

"Very well, I expect an eight inch essay on the dangers of unfocused transfiguration to be handed in at the start of our next class. You are all dismissed," Professor Mcgonagall snapped before swiftly turning around and exiting the classroom.

Harry was disheartened to find that the once friendly Deputy Headmistress had completely ignored him the entire class (or at least as much of it that she was present for), going so far as to avoid even looking at him. He knew that she was the Head of the Gryffindor house and that said house and his own Slytherin house had a legendary rivalry, but Harry had been operating under the belief that it was simply a rivalry between students, not something that the staff would also feed into. It seemed quite immature to Harry and Blaise. All in all it had not been a particularly exciting class as Professor Mcgonagall had only droned on about theory and safety before assigning them reading. While such things were surely important they were far from entertaining for a classroom full of excitable eleven year olds, and upon being dismissed there was a mad shuffle to pack their parchment, quills, and ink before running out of the classroom. In a few cases the hyper children did literally run out of said room and into the corridor. Several of the Hufflepuff students broke off from the main group to search for Susan Bones after Malfoys malicious verbal assault, and all of the first year Hufflepuffs were upset that they had been unable to tell the Professor what Malfoy had done.

XxX

Harry Potter had trudged through the rest of the school day glaring at Malfoy, and now that dinner was over and the majority of Slytherin was in their dorms he marched over to their Head of House the moment that Snape entered the common room to check on his student. Snape saw the raven haired Potter approaching with bloody murder painted on his face and made his way into a secluded corner. "Is there something the matter Mr. Potter?" Harry nodded vigorously and pushed a piece of parchment into the Potion Master's hands. Upon reading what Harry had written Snape raised an eyebrow and evaluated his students disposition. "Are you sure this is what you want Mr. Potter? Once started, this cannot be undone." Harry crossed his arms across his chest and nodded again, glaring at his Head of House. Snape could see in Potters body language and in his eyes that he would not back down, and that allowing such discontent to fester would surely cause a rift in Slytherin, one that they could not afford when most of the school believed them all to be Dark Wizards in training. "Very well, follow me Mr. Potter." Snape walked to the center of the common room his robes flaring behind him, and with simple wave of his wand every student in the dorms found themselves perfectly silenced. "If you would all make your way to the dueling pits, we have our first challenge of the year. First years, follow the upperclassmen. You have five minutes to assemble."

XxX

Harry Potter stood in the middle of a large dueling circle set up in a manner similar to the Roman Coliseums, the floor was polished stone and there was a 5 foot tall wall surrounding the ring with a single opening for a small set of stairs that allowed one person to walk down into the dueling pit at a time along with five circular rows of simple wooden benches raised behind the walls for seating spectators. "Will Mr. Draco Malfoy come down to join us." Ordered the Slytherin Head curtly.

"Are you joking Professor?" Malfoy questioned as he stood up. "What is Potter whining about? I haven't done anything to him!"

"Get down here Mr. Malfoy, I will not repeat myself again." Snape snapped and glared at his godson, causing the blonde to walk down the steps and to his irate Godfathers side. "Now then, Mr. Potter has challenged Mr. Malfoy on grounds of dishonoring Slytherin house. Should Mr. Potter be victorious then Mr. Malfoy must," at this point Professor Snape held out a piece of parchment with Harry Potters writing on it and read a direct quote, "Approach Ms. Susan Bones, a first year Hufflepuff in the great hall in the middle of dinner, fall on his hands and knees before her then beg her forgiveness for his uncivilized and cruel words and thus remain in that position until he is forgiven or she exits the Great Hall." Snape paused for a moment, a moment that Malfoy took as his cue to speak.

"You can't hones-"

"QUIET!" Professor Snape snapped loudly, knowing how spoiled and self-entitled his Godson was. While he certainly cared for the boy, no Slytherin was above the Code of Slytherin. "After reviewing the case I have decided that this duel is necessary for the unity of Slytherin. Now Mr. Malfoy, you may tell me the terms for your victory to be subject to my approval as per the traditions of the Slytherin House."

Malfoy sneered and crossed his arms, clearly wanting to shout and stomp his feet but wisely chose against that course of action. Instead he took a few moments before giving a sickly sweet smile, like a sadistic child pulling the legs off of a bug, and whispered to his Godfather. Snape considered Malfoys terms for a moment before nodding and looking back at the assembled Slytherin house. "Should Mr. Malfoy be victorious then Mr. Potter shall wear a pink robe embroidered with the words 'I love Draco Malfoy' and a orange knee length skirt for an entire day tomorrow, including during class." The majority of the students in the stands chuckled, giggled, or outright laughed at the idea. "The rules of the duel are simple, non-lethal spells only, the duel ends when one wizard surrenders or I deem the challenge to be finished. Any cheating, or continuing to fight after I call the challenge will be grounds for an automatic disqualification. Not only will you be required to play out your opponents terms but you will also be required to write a six foot essay on ethics and fair play and will serve two hours of nightly detention scrubbing out cauldrons like a muggle until the essay is completed to my- personal satisfaction." Snape slowly drawled out the final two words in a manner that sounded both lazy and infinitely threatening at the same time in a manner that only he was capable of. "Now both of you enter the small green circles and prepare yourselves." Upon seeing that both Slytherins were standing at the ready and that he himself was standing at the edge of the pit he began a countdown. "On the count of three. One… Two… Three!"

Draco thought that this would be an easy win, he had seen Potter in class and watched him struggle with even the simplest of spells. Compared to the training his father had afforded him growing up Draco felt that he was easily superior to the less famous Potter twin. What he didn't realize though was that Harry had years of experience fighting in a variety of ways. Draco opened with a disarming spell, followed by a stinging hex and a jelly legs hex. Harry simply dodged them as though they moved in slow motion. Years of dodging stones being thrown at him had given Harry a natural ease for avoiding anything being thrown or cast at him. Draco gritted his teeth and quickly retreated as Harry seamlessly sidestepped around and ducked under his spells, all while steadily pushing the young Malfoy heir towards the wall where he would be unable to escape. Harry had yet to cast a single spell despite holding his wand and the spectators could see that he simply didn't need to yet. Within forty seconds Draco had cast nineteen spells to no avail and Harry was standing directly in front of him, slapping his wand hand away to stop Draco from cursing him in the face. At that point everyone expected Harry to blast Draco with some sort of powerful magic, momentarily forgetting that he was only a first year and shouldn't know any particularly powerful or impressive magic. Instead Harry did the one thing that nobody expected, not even Severus Snape. Harry Potter simply raised his hand and slapped Draco Malfoy across the face.

"Y-you dare?" Draco shouted, his face pink from both the slap and his own embarrassment. "You dare stri-" Draco was cut off by a second slap, this time across the other side of his face. "Y-"

*SLAP*

"Wha-"

*SLAP*

"Sto-"

*SLAP*

*SLAP*

*SLAP*

*SLAP*

Draco's face was beet red and he had several cuts on his lips, drops of blood trailing down his chin. His typically immaculately styled hair was hanging down the front and sides of his face rather than being perfectly slicked back like a stereotypical Italian Mobster. Screaming in shame-fueled rage Draco attempted to tackle Harry to the ground but quickly found himself lying on his back with his non-wand arm held straight up and twisted in a incredibly painful manner. Harry placed his foot on his opponents chest and violently jerked the arm in his ironclad grip, the sound of bones breaking was overshadowed by Draco's screams and sobbing as he felt more pain in that moment than he ever had in his entire life. Harry yanked up on the arm, forcing Draco to his feet or rather to his knees as the blonde haired boy was unable to properly support himself. Taking three steps backwards without taking his eyes off his opponent Harry raised his wand and fired a silent disarming spell, smirking as Draco's ten inch Hawthorn and Unicorn hair wand seamlessly flew into his outstretched hand.

"I think that is quite enough Mr. Potter. You have won." Severus Snape spoke softly, with a tinge of disbelief in his voice. Potter had switched from humiliating his godson, to ruthlessly brutalizing him so quickly that he had found himself frozen in surprise. Mentally cursing his own inaction Severus rushed to the kneeling, sobbing form of Draco Malfoy who was cradling his broken arm and started casting medical spells and poured a pain numbing potion down the boys throat.

The entirety of Slytherin watched in complete silence as their head of house spent the next five minutes treating the loser of the challenge. There was a message for those sly enough to see it. Harry Potter was declaring that there would be a new order in Slytherin and that he wasn't afraid to enforce it. Not only that, but Potter had shown that he did not even consider Malfoy worth wasting his magic against. While the most of the higher years felt that they could defeat Potter in a challenge right now, they also knew that was not likely to be the case in three or four years. The majority of Slytherin decided that it would be better to stay in the skilled Potter twin's good graces rather than try to one up him now only to find themselves at odds with him when he grew into his power. While Harry was not the Prince of Slytherin as Tom Riddle and Lucius Malfoy had each been, unless something drastic happened it was only a matter of time until he was…

 **AN: Well the duel between Harry and Draco was fun to write, I wish I could have dragged it out longer, but with them still being first years I didn't feel that a prolonged duel would be very realistic. If you are wondering why Harry didn't use his wandless magic the answer is quite simple. Harry doesn't want to reveal that skill yet, he would much rather have a secret weapon that no one can prepare for than try to terrorize Slytherin with it only to find that someone plans a way to counter his abilities.**

 **If you enjoyed this latest chapter than review review review! Let me know what you think. While I will continue posting regardless, reviews are what motivate authors to write more quickly on this site and I am no different. Follow and favorite as well! Happy Canada Day everyone!**


	6. Humiliations, Orgies, and Trolls Oh My!

_**Last time on Darkness Rising…**_

 _It took approximately seven minutes for Draco Malfoy to become bored and begin to lash out at his classmates. Looking around him he saw a small red headed girl with a splatter of freckles adorning her face and grinned wickedly. "Hey Bones, what is it like being raised by your Aunt? I hear she's so busy that she needs to arrange a different Auror babysitter for you every week."_

 _...one Susan Bones ran out of the classroom, hands covering her face and audible sobs escaped her throat. Malfoy started laughing along with most of the other Slytherins while Harry and Blaise glared at the back of the blonde's head in unison._

 _Harry was disheartened to find that the once friendly Deputy Headmistress had completely ignored him the entire class (or at least as much of it that she was present for), going so far as to avoid even looking at him. He knew that she was the Head of the Gryffindor house and that said house and his own Slytherin house had a legendary rivalry, but Harry had been operating under the belief that it was simply a rivalry between students, not something that the staff would also feed into._

 _Draco thought that this would be an easy win, he had seen Potter in class and watched him struggle with even the simplest of spells. Compared to the training his father had afforded him growing up Draco felt that he was easily superior to the less famous Potter twin._

 _Draco's face was beet red and he had several cuts on his lips, drops of blood trailing down his chin. His typically immaculately styled hair was hanging down the front and sides of his face rather than being perfectly slicked back like a stereotypical Italian Mobster._

" _I think that is quite enough Mr. Potter. You have won." Severus Snape spoke softly, with a tinge of disbelief in his voice. Potter had switched from humiliating his godson, to ruthlessly brutalizing him so quickly that he had found himself frozen in surprise._

 **And now…**

Draco Malfoy was furious. Beyond furious actually. He had been beaten like a common muggle by an uppity half blood in front of the entire house. When his father heard about this -and he most certainly would- the elder Malfoy was going to make his winter and summer breaks a living hell. That's not to say that Lucius Malfoy was going to beat his son, or curse him. Abusing children was a muggle pursuit, wizards valued their children far too much to ever do something so terrible. No, instead Draco would be given a trainer, a brutal unforgiving trainer who would force him to learn to duel until he reached what his father would consider "an acceptable level for a young Malfoy Heir."

There would be no broom rides, no trips to one of a dozen vacation homes around the world the Malfoy family owned that would each make the Weasley home look like a House Elf's broken down shack in comparison. He wouldn't be allowed to sleep in late, or join his friends for parties or holiday celebrations, and to make it all worse he was being forced to grovel before a blood traitor. A blood traitor! The only thing more humiliating would be if it were a mudblood or a dirty muggle instead. Draco no longer cared about the Gryffindor Potter, it was the Slytherin Potter who he hated now. No matter what, Draco Malfoy would see Harry Potter prostrated before him, begging for mercy that would never come. It was with this thought in mind that Draco Malfoy sequestered himself away in a dark corner of the Slytherin Dorms to plot his revenge, and it would be glorious!

XxX

Harry Potter and Blaise Zabini were sitting expectantly in the Great Hall, eagerly awaiting the nights entertainment. "I can't wait to see Malfoy on his hands and knees," Blaise spoke loudly enough for the students sitting around to hear, causing Daphne Greengrass and Theo Nott to laugh. "I bet it will be the first time he's been on his knees since he learned how to walk."

"I remember one time he dropped his practice wand under the couch at my home, he called for a house-elf and had to wait ten minutes before he realized the Nott elves don't answer to him and tried to order me to order an elf to get it for him." Theo Nott laughed as he related his short tale.

Harry slowly signed to Blaise who had been practicing with Hermione so he could also understand his mute friend. When Harry finished Blaise broke out in raucous laughter that drew the looks of every Slytherin within a dozen feet then replied, "You might not want to say that to him Harry!"

"What did he say with that weird hand-waving Zabini?" Questioned the pretty (as pretty as an eleven year old can be) blonde Daphne Greengrass.

"I don't know if I should repeat it." Blaise replied mysteriously, looking around him as though he suspected someone was watching them. There was of course many a Gryffindor whom would glare at the Slytherin Table at each meal, as though they expected the "Snakes" to be plotting world domination over their bangers and mash.

"Oh come on Zabini, just spit it out already!" A third year called from four seats down the table.

Blaise looked at Harry, silently asking if his friend it was okay and Harry merely smiled and signed " _Tell them._ "

"Well," Blaise said slowly "Harry figures that even if Malfoy Junior hasn't ever spent any time on his knees; that Malfoy Senior probably spent more time on his knees than he did on his feet during the Blood war." Harry mimed a blowjob, waving his thumb in a straight line in front of his open mouth and pushing his cheek out with his tongue as Blaise started speaking about the elder Malfoy, causing several blushes and a cacophony of laughter that drew the gaze of the older Slytherin students. Harry was half-hoping that this would get back to Draco Malfoy and that he would do something that would allow him to challenge the arrogant git for a second time. The first year Slytherins were so busy laughing and joking at the Malfoy families expense that they missed Draco's entrance into the Great Hall. The junior Malfoy attempted to sit down for dinner when Gemma Farley, a fifth year Slytherin Prefect stood up and gently pushed him towards the Hufflepuff table with a slightly sadistic smile on her face. Gemma then sat down and whispered in the ear of the classmate on either side of her, both of whom passed along the message that the nights entertainment was about to start. By the time the message made it ot the first years Draco was standing behind Susan Bones with a pained look.

XxX

Susan Bones wasn't sure what to think about Hogwarts just yet. On one hand Hufflepuff was quite nice, She shared a dorm room with her best friend Hannah Abbott as well as Megan Jones and Leanne Taylor who both seemed like kind girls. The older Hufflepuffs were helpful and supportive, they had even handed out maps with highlighted paths for the quickest way to get to their classes from the Great Hall and their common rooms. They were also supposed to lead a study session every friday night to help them with any homework they had gotten over the course of the week. It was quite wonderful. On the other hand though was how most of Hogwarts tended to look down on her entire house. She had already been cornered in the halls with Hannah by some of the older Gryffindors who berated them for being in "the house of the leftovers" and claiming that they would have "turned around and gotten back on the train rather than be a Hufflepuff". Then that Malfoy boy had taunted her, making fun of her Aunty and acting like her family dieing was some sort of hilarious joke. The worst part was that she hadn't been able to say anything in her own defense. While Malfoy had certainly exaggerated the situation there was some truth to it. She was often babysat by Trainee Aurors, and she rarely got to spend quality time with her extremely busy Aunt Amelia. But even after the nasty things he had said he hadn't been punished. No one outside of of house had even cared, and even the older Hufflepuffs were too afraid of his father (the former Death Eater Lucius Malfoy) to try and do anything about it.

Susan was lost in deep thought and self-pity when the sound of Hannah snarling shocked her out of her misery. "Get out of here Malfoy. No one gives a damn what you have to say!" Susan looked across the table at her best friend in shock at the venom in her words. Malfoy glared at Hannah who refused to look away, then turned his hateful gaze towards Susan who flinched in response, expecting another diatribe about how she was unloved and unwanted. Instead the blonde Slytherin dropped to his knees, glaring at Susan Bones as though he attempting to make her spontaneously combust. With his hands clenched into fists so tightly that they shook from the effort and a rapidly reddening face Malfoy bowed forward until he was prostrated before the red haired Hufflepuff. By this time the entire student body was watching as students from each house had started pointing out to their classmates that _something_ was happening at the Hufflepuff table and they waited to see just what was happening.

"I apologize for my unkind words. It was immature and petty of me to make such statements and was an action below my station. I-" Malfoys voice faltered for a moment, "I humbly _beg_ for your forgiveness. Though I do not deserve it." Malfoy managed to put all his scorn into the word beg, for a Malfoy never begged, it was supposed to be others who begged to the Malfoys and Draco felt that he could not be more humiliated unless the nature in which he lost to the challenge from Harry Potter were to become public. He was almost thankful that he was facing the ground for he was completely unable to hide the rage and humiliation that he currently felt.

"Wh- what?" Susan Bones squeaked out, unsure of what was happening. Her Aunty had often raged about the boundless arrogance of the Malfoys and had often said that they would rather pay a fortune to make a problem go away then admit fault of any kind.

"I apologize and beg your forgiveness for my dishonourable slight against you..." Malfoy spoke as though it physically pained him to say the words and still remained on his hands and knees.

Just ignore the arrogant berk Susan" Hannah spat, glaring at the prostrated Malfoy. "The moment you say anything he'll just turn it around and start insulting you again!" Susan looked nervously between her best friend and the Slytherin bully before nodding at Hannah and returning to her meal.

XxX

At the Slytherin table Harry and Blaise watched the proceedings with poorly disguised glee while Crabbe and Goyle stared at their 'illustrious leader' in confusion. They had never seen Draco apologize for anything. Even when he had broken their training brooms on Gregory Goyle's eighth birthday in a furious temper tantrum he had not spoken a single word of apology. He had replaced the brooms the next day but he had not apologized. They knew the terms of the challenge that Draco had accepted and lost, but hearing that something was going to happen, and actually seeing it happen where two wildly different things. Harry scanned the staff table to see what the teachers reactions were and was surprised to find that only Headmaster Dumbledore appeared concerned, and that he seemed close to interfering until Professor Snape laid a hand on the elderly wizards arm and shook his head before whispering into his ear. The Headmaster frowned, and his eyes flickered over to the Slytherin table for a fraction of a second but he did other teachers were not so obvious as to point at the prostrated Malfoy scion as many of the students did, but Harry noticed several of them nod their head in the direction and begin to whisper with each other. At the opposite end of the hall Blaise noticed trouble brewing with the Gryffindors, nudging Harry softly to gain his attention Blaise then pointed at what seemed to be an extremely irate Hermione Granger and a red-faced Ron Weasley.

XxX

 _Three minutes earlier..._

Ignotus Potter was sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table sampling some roast beef when Ron Weasley started pointing and laughing, his mouth still full of mashed potatoes and peas which sprayed out and landed on Hermione's open textbook. "Gross! What's wrong with you Ron? Look what you did!" Hermione screeched. "Now my book is covered in your disgusting half chewed mush!"

"Who cares about your stupid book Granger? Look at what that Malfoy git is doing!" Ron stood up on top of the bench and pointed at the Hufflepuff table where Draco Malfoy was prostrated. Hermione glanced behind herself and saw nothing as Malfoy was on the ground and thus out of sight for the seated eleven year old girl.

"There's nothing there Ronald, sit do-"

"Malfoy is over there on the ground in front of the 'Puffs! Did you see it Iggy?" Ron interrupted Hermione and took a step on top of the table in order to get a better look at Draco Malfoy behind the Hufflepuff table. "Who'da thought Malfoy would ever get on his hands and knees hahahaha!" Ron roared with laughter while wildly pointing in Malfoys direction with a half eaten drumstick.

"Ya, I saw it Ron. Now get down off the table before Mcgonagall gives you detention or something." Iggy replied lazily. Iggy Potter didn't really care for Draco Malfoy, and knew he was a bit of a bully from how he had picked on Neville during their flying lesson. Harry had quickly signed that Slytherins weren't allowed to argue in public and that Iggy needed to help the shy Gryffindor. Luckily doing so had managed to get him on the Gryffindor Quidditch team so all in all he figured that Malfoy was annoying but not enough to be considered important. Iggy ignored Ron as he started some diatribe or another about how evil Malfoy and all the Slytherins were, something that he did at least once a day (this was his third time today) and engaged Dean Thomas in a far more interesting conversation about who they thought had the best chance to win the football world cup this coming season when they were interrupted by a girlish shriek. Iggy looked around quickly and saw that Hermione had several glob of mashed potato and gravy on her face and the front of her robes.

"RONALD WEASLEY! YOU- YOU- YOU BLOODY ANIMAL!" Hermione screamed as she wiped the slobbery food off her face with the sleeves of her robes. "How hard is it to swallow your food before you talk? Are you such a dunce that your mother never taught you any table manners? Or are you just too bloody stupid to realize that you're spitting your food everywhere when you talk!" Ron's face started turning red and he was about to say something in his defense but Hermione kept screaming at him, not allowing him a chance to speak at all. "If you're going to eat like a pig then the teachers should make you eat outside out of a trough like one! I've seen three year old children less disgusting than you Weasley! I've seen DOGS with better manners than you!" By this point half of Gryffindor was laughing, as well as many students from the other houses and while none of the staff appeared to find it amusing, a stern faced Professor Mcgonagall was storming over and glaring daggers at the youngest male Weasley.

"Miss Granger, I would appreciate it if you would cease yelling." Professor Mcgonagall said sternly but a hint of warmth in her tone.

"But h-" Hermione started.

"Mr. Weasley may need to be taught proper table manners but it is not the place of a student to do so." With that said the Transfiguration professor turned on Ron Weasley with an absolutely glacial tone of voice that left Iggy Potter wondering if she was part Ice Wraith, or if Ice Wraiths were even a real thing or just something that muggles made up. "Mr. Weasley, if you are unable to consume your meal without spitting it across the table than I will be forced to give you proper etiquette lessons. As it is, I believe that your parents need to be informed that their son thinks it is acceptable to spew his half eaten food onto an eleven year old girls face."

"But-"

"No buts Mr. Weasley, now come with me." Ron Weasley stood up and followed his head of house as she stormed out of the Great Hall and presumably up to her office while the majority of Gryffindor table snickered at the young Weasley's misfortune.

Iggy Potter watched them leave, the gears turning in his head as he started to think of ways to teach Ron a lesson. Sometimes the only way to get an idea through someone's thick skull was to humiliate them so badly that they never forgot...

XxX

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore sat high above the students and staff of Hogwarts in his tower contemplating the events that had transpired that night, and what plans he would make moving forward. "I wonder how I might test the young Potter boy Flopsy. He is far too confident, he was supposed to come to Hogwarts and see it as an escape from the drudgery of Muggle life. But those Muggles treated him like a prince!"

"I told ya not to call me that you dithering old windpipe!" Snarked the Hogwarts Sorting Hat from its place on a shelf across from the esteemed Headmaster.

"Don't be like that Flopsy, everyone needs a name. Even a hat!" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he spoke and leaned back from his large ornately designed oak desk. There were images of Unicorn's, Phoenix's, and Pixies all dancing around each other carved into the wood in such detail that one would swear that the carved figures actually moved when no one was watching. Dumbledore pressed his wand against a large Pixie carving near his foot and a slot opened on the centre of the desk revealing a bag filled with sparkling red and blue powder. Reaching into the bag Dumbledore withdrew several pinches worth of the glittering powder and immediately raised it to his nose and snorted it. The Headmaster threw his head back and sagged comfortably into his chair, absentmindedly waving his wand to close the slot in his desk leaving no trace that it was ever there, not even the tiniest of creases.

"You would think that someone who holds the title of Hogwarts Headmaster, Chief Warlock, and Supreme Mugwump would be above snorting Afa Dust like a common pox ridden alley creeper."

"Oh hush Flopsy," giggled Dumbledore "those titles are exactly why I enjoy Afa Dust. Do you have any idea how much pressure I am under? The fate of the entire Wizarding world lies on my shoulders! Would you deny me this one little indiscretion?"

"I would deny you the very air you breathe if I could ya dirty anus licking goat fucker!" Flopsy snapped venomously. "Now stop calling me by that damned name! Call me Hat for all I care! But stop calling me that Merlin-damned effeminate name!"

"You are so vulgar sometimes Flopsy." Dumbledore replied as he ignored the Sorting Hat's continued insults towards himself, his mother, and every goat in the whole of Magical Britain. "Young Malfoy was humiliated tonight, and Severus claims it is part of some old Slytherin tradition. Bah!" Dumbledore threw his hands up in apparent disgust. "It will be far more difficult for little Draco to lead Slytherin after this. Someone more capable could come forward and that is far too dangerous. So long as the Slytherins are blinded by their own bigotry and self-importance they will remain mostly ineffectual. They can't be allowed to gain any true competence as most of them are already doomed to follow Riddle when he returns. I shall have to ensure that young Mr. Malfoy finds a way to reassert his dominance."

"You're a bloody idiot you goat-licking whore! Have you stopped to consider that if the Slytherins were forced to see their own incompetence and bigotry that they might realize that the snake-buggering-son-of-a-slut doesn't deserve their loyalty?"

"Ha! Hahaha, this is why I keep you around Flopsy. You have the most outlandish ideas. The Slytherins could never be trusted, the only way they would choose not to serve Riddle is if another Dark Lord came to power."

Flopsy the Sorting Hat simply made a farting sound to express his opinion which Dumbledore ignored having grown used to the Hat's antics.

"More distressing is Ignotus Potter..." Dumbledore mumbled softly, his hands grasping at illusions of flying colorful orbs as the Afa Dust started to take effect. "He doesn't seem to care for the Weasley boy, not that I can blame him but it would have made things easier. The Weasleys are so wonderfully loyal, they would sing my praises to the boy and make it that much easier for him to trust me..." Dumbledore was standing now, looking around wildly at all the wonderful lights and flapping his arms around so as to swipe at the colorful orbs and make them explode into waves of color. "At the very least I must set him against Slytherin somehow."

"HA! Good luck with that! His twin brother is in Slytherin."

"Yes, I suppose he is… Harry is inconsequential but it is possible that he could poison young Ignotus' mind. Hmmm…"

"Oy! What deluded plot is running through that perverted dusty cavern you call a mind?"

"Me? Plot? Oh Flopsy you must have me confused with someone else. Severus perhaps, but I don't plot, I plan. There is an extremely important difference between the two."

"Ha! That's like saying that you aren't a poofter if you be doing the buggering instead of the one being buggered ya demented old fool." Flopsy replied nastily.

"Flopsy, Flopsy, Flopsy… Come here and let me prove to you that I am a great planner and not some sneaky plotter." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye and a giggle in his voice as he rolled over his desk, knocking a myriad of papers and books onto the floor and spun his way to the shelf that held the famed Sorting Hat.

"W-Wait! What are you doing?" Flopsy shouted, squirming ineffectually as Dumbledore picked him up off his shelf. "No! NO! DON'T DO THAT! I DON'T WANT TO SEE IN THERE! NOOOOOOOO!" Flopsy screamed in denial as he was placed on top of Dumbledore's head and was barraged by drug fueled images of Dumbledore's many illicit trysts.

"Oops, that's not what I wanted to show you… But that lad certainly earned the title of 'Head Boy' didn't he?" Giggled Dumbledore as he remembered an extremely grateful muggleborn Head Boy some fifteen or so years ago.

"Make it stop! You're so pale! And the wrinkles. Oh the wrinkles, THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"

"Well you aren't a spring chicken yourself Flopsy."

"You're so wrinkled that I don't know which is a wrinkle and which is your ass-crack you doddering old pervert! Now, TAKE! ME! OFF!"

"You know Flopsy," Dumbledore said with a silly grin plastered on his face as he laid on the ground waving his arms and legs as though he were making a snow angel, "your voice often reminds me of Gellert. Now that was a man who knew how to work a knob if you know what I mean." Dumbledore winked pointlessly at Flopsy as he was perched on the Headmasters head.

"Of course I know what you mean! I'M SEEING EVERYTHING YOU THINK! NOW GET ME OFF BEFORE - Oh… Oh no… I don't want to see that. Please Albus, stop this! I'll stop getting mad about the whole Flopsy thing! I'll come up with a Sorting song that makes everyone hate Slytherin! I'll do anything! ANYTHING! DEAR MERLIN NO!" The memories that followed depicted an unspeakable orgy including seven wizards, three hags, two female and one male goblin, and of course, a single goat of indeterminate gender. Flopsy sobbed for his lost innocence while the esteemed headmaster giggled, high out of his mind on Afa Dust as he reminisced about how he first met Gellert Grindelwald for the first time, the only wizard to be nearly as depraved as himself.

xXx

A week had passed since Draco Malfoy had begged forgiveness for his bullying of Susan Bones and Ron Weasley had been practically dragged from the Great Hall for his atrocious table manners. One long, horribly embarrassing and spectacularly humiliating week (at least by the standards of an 11 year old Ron Weasley). First had been Molly Weasley's Howler, she had screamed and ranted about how he was spitting food on his housemates, and threatened to transfer him to Beauxbatons for his second year if she heard one more word about Ronalds eating habits where he would learn how to dine like a proper _lady_. Then Ron had woken up late for breakfast one day with a plastic pigs nose stuck on his face and he had been forced to walk all the way to the front of the Great Hall to ask one of the Professors to remove it as it seemed to be stuck on his face magically. The next day it had happened again, but the Professors had a more difficult time removing it as whomever had placed it used some sort of muggle invention to make it stick to his face. It had happened every morning since and Ron found himself unable to perform the counterspell that Professor Mcgonagall had given him and so he was forced to make a daily walk of shame to the front of the Great Hall each morning as the students eating their breakfast often paused to make oinking noises at him as he passed and earning him the nickname of 'Piglet', a name that Malfoy took great joy in using at every opportunity. In Ron Weasley's eyes the whole thing was Hermione Granger's fault and he swore he would make her as miserable as he currently was as he ran to his older twin brothers for advice.

XxX

Harry Potter laid in bed, unmoving as he tried to summon the will to get out of bed for another day of classes. It was so frustrating, to go from having so much awesome power, to the first year loser who could barely make his magic work. Professor Flitwick was the only one who seemed to care to teach him. Professor Mcgonagall would just cluck her tongue at his pathetic attempts to transfigure even the simplest of things and tell him "You need to picture the transformation Potter." and "Try to be more like your brother Potter. He's already finished." Professor Quirrell was such a stuttering mess that no one was really learning much so at least in Defence Against the Dark Arts his subpar performance was not so noticable. Herbology was basically just gardening with magic plants, and Harry had hated gardening ever since the Dursleys had forced him and Iggy to do all of theirs, sneering at what a pathetic job they were doing the entire time. Astronomy seemed like a waste of time but he had heard some of the older Slytherins talking about how it was important for some rituals (especially the advanced ones) so Harry put effort into the class just in case he needed it later. Potions was alright, on one hand Professor Snape favored his Slytherins and made sure they all understood what they were doing, except in the case of Crabbe and Goyle as those two were truly hopeless on a level that even Snape could not ignore. But on the other hand he seemed to take great pleasure in reprimanding and belittling the Gryffindors, especially his own twin and a shy boy named Neville Longbottom. Harry hated bullies, and he hated even more that there was nothing he could do about this one. Professor Snape was a legend among the Slytherins, renown for his superior dueling skills and mastery of potions despite being a relatively young wizard. It was even whispered that he had become a favorite of the Dark Lord near the end of the war, before Iggy had somehow ended it and become a living legend. Flying lessons were already done and those had been a disaster as some idiot thought it was a good idea to put Gryffindor and Slytherin together and there had been numerous 'accidents' from both houses. Lastly History of Magic was a joke, a complete and total waste of time. Blaise had a magical paper chess set which worked with two pages that each showed the same game, he and Harry would often use this to pass the time as Professor Binns droned on and on and on. Then Harry would simply ask Hermione for her notes when they met in the library to study.

If it weren't for Hermione and Blaise Harry would have a hard time deciding whether to come back for a second year, but his friends made it all worth it. While Harry did not get to see Iggy as much as he would have liked, they were quite different now anyways. Iggy had grown into his own after being adopted, and the once quiet shy boy was often garnering as much attention as he could possibly muster. Nearly all the Professors were quick to notice when he completed a spell or needed help with one, even Professor Flitwick was sometimes guilty of giving Iggy Potter more attention than he really needed. Professor Snape was certainly unkind, and while he did pay more attention to Iggy than the other students it was only to demean and belittle his work rather than praise it. Iggy had a solid group of friends among Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, Thomas Dean and Seamus Finnigan seemed to be the closest to him, while Ron Weasley was always trailing along, trying to convince the other boys to go flying or play endless hours of Wizarding Chess. Harry had also seen Terry Boot, a pureblood from Ravenclaw often join Iggy and the other two Ravenclaw first years seemed to tag along sometimes as well. Unfortunately Harry wasn't accepted by his twins friends due to his status as a "Slimy Slytherin Snake". While Iggy could convince the other boys to let his less famous twin join them, it was obviously an obviously forced action and Harry didn't care to spend his time with people who were so apparent in their dislike of him. Harry sighed heavily and stared up at the ceiling contemplating the consequences of skipping a day of school. Potions, followed by Herbology, Transfiguration, and Charms… Harry reluctantly rolled out of bed and looked around his small dorm room, (Slytherins luckily each got their own private room) the walls were and ceiling were plain, both to save money and effort on decorations and to allow the students to decorate as they wished. Harry had a sturdy desk in the corner that was not large, nor tiny, but with enough space for at least two textbooks and the parchment for his homework and a open corner where Harry kept his snake egg. Only time would tell if it were a ordinary corn snake or a legendary Mayan Vision Snake. There was a large chest with the Potter family crest encompassing the front that had a pair of dark robes tossed on top. In the far corner was a large shelf that held the rest of his school supplies. Otherwise Harry's room was quite bare and in turn quite neat as well. With a final glare at the door Harry reluctantly rolled out of bed and gathered his potion supplies as he knew that the punishment for skipping his head of house's own class would be incredibly severe.

XxX

Harry Potter stood silently in an unused classroom on the sixth floor of the castle, he had been wandering the halls quite aimlessly as the rest of the students scurried down to the Great Hall for dinner. Harry knew that he was supposed to go down as well but he just didn't have the energy or the willpower, not today. So as the rest of Hogwarts sat at their tables stuffing their faces with all kinds of foods and treats Harry waved his wand in sharp precise movements. It always took Harry longer to learn a new spell, while on the other end of the spectrum his twin brother Ignotus seemed to have a real talent for magic as he seemed to be able to learn just about every spell by the end of the class, something that even Hermione had trouble with sometimes and she was the smartest person Harry knew! It wasn't until Harry felt something, a bad feeling that slowly crawled up the length of his spine, a feeling that Harry recognized. Harry had felt this only once before, the night that the Dursleys home was burnt to the ground.

Knowing that _something_ was going to go wrong Harry rushed out of the classroom and ran towards the massive staircases. Looking down at the ground floor from the railing Harry spotted the large bald head of a mountain troll just as it lazily strolled out of view dragging a massive club along the ground beside itself. Harry's eyes widened and he started running down the steps, taking them two, and then three at a time, pushing his magic throughout his body so that he was lighter and faster than normal. As Harry finally reached the first floor he heard a loud piercing shriek of absolute terror and the frightened ramblings of two boys, and so practically threw himself through the door to a sight that he would never forget.

Hermione was huddled in the corner of the bathroom, cradling a bloody arm and staring wide-eyed at the troll, on top of said troll Harry saw his twin brother hanging on to the trolls head for dear life by gripping its large floppy ears, his wand stuck up the creatures nose. Just behind the troll Ron Weasley was screaming "Do something Iggy! Do something!" while flailing his hands uselessly. Suddenly Iggy Potter was flying through the air and right into his twin brother as the mountain troll had managed to swipe at him and knock the small 11 year old off of its grey lumpy head. The bathroom itself looked like one would expect from a rampaging Mountain Troll, the sinks and toilets were smashed to pieces, spraying small streams of water. The mirrors had been shattered and the glass glittered on the ground dangerously, and the wooden bathroom stalls had been smashed to pieces as one rather sharp looking hunk of wooden shrapnel was sticking out of Hermione's bloody arm as tears coursed down her face from both the pain she felt and her fear for the situation itself. Upon seeing her best friend Harry she allowed herself a moment of hope that she might not die this night, but that hope was ruthlessly crushed when she saw Ignotus Potter sent flying from atop the Trolls head by a glancing blow.

"Harry!" Iggy cried with wide eyes upon seeing his twin brother standing over him and he quickly scrambled to his feet. "It's a Troll Harry! What do we do?" Harry Potter pushed The-Boy-Who-Lived to the side and stepped forward, a look of rage on his face as he finally took in all the damage around him and understood that his best friend and twin brother were both in horrible danger if he didn't do something. Ron Weasley was still screaming for "Iggy" to do something and kill the troll so Harry flicked his wrist and sent the ginger tumbling headfirst into the wall, knocking him out and giving Harry some much needed peace, although he could still hear Hermione sobbing in the corner. The massive Mountain Troll stepped towards the sobbing Gryffindor girl menacingly and Harry's gaze darkened. Harry raised both his hands, focusing his magic and glaring at the Troll that was ignoring him for the noisier prey. With a silent rage filled shout Harry thrust his hands forward and Ignotus Potter watched in utter amazement as a stream of blue and purple lightning erupted from Harry's fingertips, smashing into the centre of the Mountain Trolls back. The Mountain Troll roared in surprise at the sudden sharp pain and turned around far more swiftly than his size would have suggested was possible. Harry continued to pour his magic into the stream of lightning watching as it grew steadily larger, brighter, and louder as Ignotus watched slack-jawed in amazement at his twin brothers raw power which seemed only more impressive to any muggle raised wizard who had grown up watching Star Wars.

The Troll saw Harry standing apart from anyone else, and a bright light surrounding him, so while the Mountain Troll was too dumb to comprehend what was happening to cause it pain, it was able to see that Harry was somehow responsible for said pain. So with another roar the Troll started moving towards the mute little Slytherin who responded by pouring even more magic through his outstretched hands. The Troll moved closer with every second, its disgusting stench growing in intensity, and the lightning assaulting it intensified with every moment as well. Just as the Mountain Troll took its third step Harry's lightning burst forth in a massive torrent of crackling light, engulfing the Trolls entire massive figure and forcing it to one knee. The Troll glared at Harry Potter hatefully and loosed a roar that saw spittle flying from his mouth and Harry could see how the Trolls was missing about a third of its teeth. A large meaty arm swung towards the frail eleven year old human boy who roared back silently but no less fiercely for whatever Harry may have lost in sound he gained from the enraged gleam in his glowing emerald eyes. Harry pushed his arms out again while stepping up to the monstrous creature, his torrent of lightning growing more and more powerful until it looked as though he were standing in the centre of a Thunderbird driven storm. Harry could smell the flesh of the troll cooking from the heat of his magical lightning and scrunched his nose as the scent of burnt hamburger mixed with sulfur, fresh dog shit, and burning rubber pervaded his nostrils, he could see the fear in the Trolls dull brownish-grey eyes as it felt its body dying. Ignotus covered his ears to try and block out the rage and pain fueled bellowing of the injured Troll and the loud crackling and popping of the lightningstorm engulfing the massive magical creature but he refused to take his eyes off the incredible sight before him. Just as Ignotus thought that the Trolls massive fist would reach and pulverize his precious twin brother, the creature was thrown back by a sudden influx of lightning, slamming into the wall with a resounding bang that made the following silence seem nearly as deafening as the cacophony of noise that had dominated the room just moments before. Before either Hermione or Ignotus could say a word to their saviour Harry smiled weakly, then collapsed on the floor unconscious though not snoring like a certain ginger haired first year laying safely against the wall behind Harry and Ignotus...

 **AN: Sorry this chapter took so long to put out but hopefully the scene I wrote with Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat makes up for it. I shamelessly stole inspiration from Jberns "This Lie I've Lived" if I remember it correctly. While the sequel was unfortunately never finished I still found this story to be a entertaining read and highly suggest it. I also wasn't happy with how I wrote the Troll scene at the end here and had to polish it since I've been working it up in my head so much but hopefully it turned out well. So thanks for reading, I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter of Darkness Rising!**


	7. And the Other Shoe Drops

_**Last time on Darkness Rising…**_

" _I apologize and beg your forgiveness for my dishonourable slight against you..." Malfoy spoke as though it physically pained him to say the words and still remained on his hands and knees…_

" _RONALD WEASLEY! YOU- YOU- YOU BLOODY ANIMAL!" Hermione screamed as she wiped the slobbery food off her face with the sleeves of her robes. "How hard is it to swallow your food before you talk? Are you such a dunce that your mother never taught you any table manners? Or are you just too bloody stupid to realize that you're spitting your food everywhere when you talk!"_

" _Ha! Hahaha, this is why I keep you around Flopsy. You have the most outlandish ideas. The Slytherins could never be trusted, the only way they would choose not to serve Riddle is if another Dark Lord came to power."_

 _In Ron Weasley's eyes the whole thing was Hermione Granger's fault and he swore he would make her as miserable as he currently was as he ran to his older twin brothers for advice..._

 _Hermione was huddled in the corner of the bathroom, cradling a bloody arm and staring wide-eyed at the troll, on top of said troll Harry saw his twin brother hanging on to the trolls head for dear life by gripping its large floppy ears, his wand stuck up the creatures nose. Just behind the troll Ron Weasley was screaming "Do something Iggy! Do something!" while flailing his hands uselessly..._

 _The massive Mountain Troll stepped towards the sobbing Gryffindor girl menacingly and Harry's gaze darkened. Harry raised both his hands, focusing his magic and glaring at the Troll that was ignoring him for the noisier prey. With a silent rage filled shout Harry thrust his hands forward and Ignotus Potter watched in utter amazement as a stream of blue and purple lightning erupted from Harry's fingertips, smashing into the centre of the Mountain Trolls back..._

 _Just as Ignotus thought that the Trolls massive fist would reach and pulverize his precious twin brother, the creature was thrown back by a sudden influx of lightning, slamming into the wall with a resounding bang that made the following silence seem nearly as deafening as the cacophony of noise that had dominated the room just moments before. Before either Hermione or Ignotus could say a word to their saviour Harry smiled weakly, then collapsed on the floor unconscious though not snoring like a certain ginger haired first year laying safely against the wall behind Harry and Ignotus..._

 **And now…**

Harry Potter groggily opened his eyes about forty hours after he had defeated a massive Mountain Troll that most fully grown and trained wizards would have run from, and he didn't just defeat the creature, he had slain it! Stretching his arms alerted a grey haired witch in a nurses uniform of sorts with a stern look on her face that belied the loving warmth of her deep blue eyes. "Good morning Mr. Potter, how are you feeling?" The kind eyed witch asked politely as she stood next do Harry's bed. Harry instinctively reached to were his pockets would normally be to pull out his cue cards before realising that he was no longer dressed in his school robes. "Yes, I've been told about your condition Mr. Potter. Can you nod if you feel ok?"

Harry nodded.

"No lingering pain or soreness? You don't feel strangely tired in any way?"

Harry shook his head and showed a small smile.

""Very good. I am Madam Pomfrey by the way, the matron here at Hogwarts responsible for the health of every student and staff member here."

Harry smiled a little larger and waved at Madam Pomfrey causing her to smile herself as she pulled out her wand and started waving it in small concise but strange patterns starting over his head and going down to his toes. Seeing Harry's inquisitive look Madam Pomfrey enlightened him on what she was doing.

"I'm just running a few diagnostic charms to make sure that you are healthy after your accident but it does seem like you have healed up nicely." Madam Pomfrey said with a kind smile that caused the sternness in her face to melt away. "Do you not remember what happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked upon seeing the confused expression on her young patients face. "Well you had a run-in with a fully grown Mountain Troll about two days ago now. Apparently you released an incredible burst of accidental magic that protected yourself and your friends. Professor Dumbledore said that the backlash could have killed you. You're quite lucky you know."

Harry listened uncertainty as he knew that there was no accidental magic involved. He had used far more power than ever before, that was true, but it wasn't accidental. In fact, staring at his own fingers held directly in front if his face Harry could almost feel a tingle of lightning run along them. Harry could only remember one time that he had used magic anywhere near as powerful as what had killed the Troll and that was definitely accidental but not this, Harry could feel the difference as any Witch or Wizard could.

"You're free to go now young man. Hopefully I won't be seeing you again too soon." Madam Pomfrey told Harry with a kind smile before turning away to take inventory of her potion stock. While school had only just started two months ago there were certain potions that the older girls always seemed to need, although she knew that Professor Snape only brewed such potions to help restrict the number of "screaming-snot-nosed-dunderheads"...

XxX

Harry Potter was spitting mad as he stormed through the dungeons towards the Slytherin common rooms. He had just come from an extremely "enlightening" conversation with his twin brother and knew that _something_ had to be done. Harry came upon the hidden entrance to his common room and pressed a charmed quill that Professor Snape had given him to allow him entrance without being able to speak the password, and stomped towards his room, drawing the stares of several fellow Slytherins, including Blaise who got up from the chair he had been lounging in and followed the noisy mute Slytherin into his room, catching the door just before it slammed shut. "What's going on Harry?" Blaise questioned as he closed the door behind him.

Harry glared at his hands as if they had offended him somehow, before angrily signing the word " _Weasel!_ "

"Weasel? You mean Weasley? As in Ron Weasley?" Blaise leaned against the closed door and ran his hand through his short dark hair.

" _All of them! The bastards are picking on Hermione!_ " Harry signed angrily.

"All of them?"

" _Iggy says it's mostly his dorm-mate and a bit from the twins but there's no way that their Prefect brother doesn't know anything. They're all mad at her because she stood up for herself after the Piglet sprayed her with his half eaten food! She was in that bathroom on Halloween because of how much they pick on her and try to drive her away._ " Harry started pacing in his room, his feet stomping on the stone floor.

"Well Hermione is our friend. We need to help her, what are we going to do?" Blaise asked as he sat down on Harry's bed and started to lean back. Harry was silent for several minutes and he paced back and forth in front of his bed and Blaise simply laid back and waited for his friend to decide a course of action. When Blaise could no longer hear the sound of Harry's pacing he rolled himself back into a sitting position and saw a cruel smile adorning his best friends normally kind face.

" _I want to get the oldest weasel alone. I'm going to make sure he never shirks his duty again._ " Harry smirked dangerously as he thought out how to best humiliate the Weasley Prefect. " _But first we need to find Hermione and make sure that she knows we will protect her, even from the older students._ "

"Right!" Blaise jumped to his feet and grinned wildly. "We'll teach those Gryffindors who's boss! But uh-" Blaise trailed off for a moment before continuing, "well I've heard some nasty things about the Weasley Twins. If they realize that we retaliated for Hermione then things could get messy..."

" _I don't care._ " Harry signed with a resolute look. " _If they're picking on Hermione that makes them bullies, or at least not-so-innocent-bystanders. I know how to deal with bullies._ " Harry finished signing with a dangerous glint in his eyes and a smug smirk.

XxX

Several days has passed since Harry learned of Hermione's treatment at the hands of her fellow Gryffindors, days during which Harry and Blaise had been busy plotting (not planning) and making some small purchases with which to garner their righteous vengeance. It was now two and a half hours past curfew and Harry was waiting patiently for one Percy Weasley on the opposite side of the floor as the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower. There were two intersecting hallways that created a four-way intersection and Harry waited where he knew he would remain unseen. Percy was far too predictable, taking the exact same patrol route every night. As Harry heard the soft sound of feet clapping against the stone floor he pressed himself closer against the wall, as though he was trying to sink into it and waited for his target to pass. Seconds passed as Harry counted the soft footsteps, he could feel the tiniest bit of a draft pass by his neck, causing Harry's spine to shiver for a moment. Then Percy Weasley reached the intersection and turned to walk down the hallway on his left side, leaving his back completely exposed to a certain first year Slytherin. Harry gathered his magic and struck quickly, not giving the older Prefect time to defend himself. With a upwards flick of both his wrist's, followed by an inward flick, the edges of a carpet that Blaise had charmed to look like the ground rose up and covered Percy, then quickly twisted around him tightly so that he could not draw his wand.

"Who's there?" Percy shouted strongly but his words were slightly muffled by the carpet that had cocooned around him. "Attacking a Prefect could be grounds for expulsion, but if you stop this now you'll only get detention!" Harry simply stood several feet behind Percy, silent as a ghost. More so even, as ghosts could in fact be quite loud when upset. "I-I'm warning you! This is your last chance!"

Harry continued to ignore Percy's threats.

"I mean it! S-stop this now!" Percy stuttered, his voice growing unsteady for a moment before Harry saw him begin to thrash around and try to physically free himself while shouting, "Leeet mmmeeee oooooouut!" Harry smirked, knowing that no one was close enough to hear the Prefects panicked cries. After a few more moments of watching the Weasley Prefect squirm Harry used his magic to pull one of the empty chairs in a neighboring classroom into his hands, lifted the chair above his head, then smashed it down on Percy Weasley's back. Percy fell to his knees and struggled to stay upright but Harry slammed the chair down on him again, and this time Percy fell to the ground, moaning softly but no longer struggling. Harry silently flicked his wrist and walked away, Percy floating along behind him; using a secret passage that Blaise had learned about from his older and now graduated sister Harry was able to travel from the seventh floor to the Entrance Hall in only five short minutes. From the Entrance Hall Harry sped towards a classroom where his accomplice waited to complete the second part of their plan.

" _Did he give you trouble?_ " Blaise crudely signed, so as not to allow himself to be identified by voice when their little "prank" was investigated, as it surely would be.

Harry shook his head and smirked at his best friend, then waved his hand so that Percy was laying on the ground between the both of them. Percy groaned as he fell to the floor with a slight thump and Blaise pulled a clear potion out of his robes inner pocket. Harry held both his hands out in front of himself and waved them outwards with his wrists first, with the rest of his arms slowly following suit and the carpet cocooning Percy gently unwound itself. As the carpet started to reveal Percy's face Harry tightened the hold that it had over the Prefect and Blaise hurriedly poured his potion down the older boys throat, pinching Percy's nose as he poured so as to force Percy to swallow or drown. Once the potion was consumed Percy immediately fell asleep, very extremely asleep as only a spell or specific potion would wake him now. Luckily said spells were easily performed and the potion and it's counter were somewhat common and easily identified. Percy was in no danger of entering an eternal slumber. Once Percy was asleep the two Slytherin boys poured another potion down his throat - this one a deep purple - then they took out muggle permanent markers and got to work…

XxX

Blaise and Harry made sure to be ready to witness the schools reaction, and in a bid to throw off suspicion they informed the rest of the house that "something good" was waiting for them first thing in the morning. Neither boy worried about being ratted out, Slytherin took care of their own. They had to when most of the school was against them and damning them as dark wizards without a second thought. It wasn't until halfway through breakfast that the chaos was due to start however. When Harry saw Hermione arrive in the hall for breakfast he stood up and took her arm, guiding her towards his own table.

"What are you doing Harry? We're supposed to sit at our own tables!" Hermione hissed softly.

Harry shook his head and continued pulling her along until they were standing behind Blaise who stood and held out his hand to help the young Gryffindor sit, at which point Harry and Blaise each took a side so that she was sitting between them.

"What's going on Blaise? Harry?" Hermione questioned a second time.

" _Iggy told me what's been happening._ " Harry signed, giving Hermione a small glare. " _Why didn't you tell us what the Weasels were doing?_ "

"The Weasels? You mean Ron Weasley?"

"That's right." Blaise replied quietly. "We're supposed to be friends, so you need to tell us these sort of things."

"I- I can handle Ron Weasley. He's mean but dumb, he doesn't matter…." Hermione trailed off and started staring at her hands, trying to hide the forlorn look sketched on her face. Harry took Hermione's hands in his own and stared into her eyes for several seconds before letting one of his hands up so that he could sign.

" _It wasn't just him. He's too dumb to pull off the sort of things that have been happening to you. His brothers are helping too._ "

"That's right," Blaise interrupted "and I hear that he's spread some nasty rumors among the first year girls. Or rather he got one of your Lions do it. Lavender I think her name was." Blaise took Hermione's free hand in both of his and squeezed it comfortingly as Harry did the same to the hand he held. "You're our friend Hermione, and we're Slytherins. Slytherins take care of their friends."

"I- it's just - they -" Hermione started rambling until Harry placed a finger over her lips to shush her and used his free hand to sign again.

" _We won't let anyone hurt you Hermione. I won't let anyone hurt you. And today will be a message to the Weasels to leave you alone._ " Hermione's eyes started to water, and next thing Harry knew he was having the breath squeezed out of him by a massive hug from the bushy haired girl while she started to sniffle into his shoulder. Blaise patted her back and prepared a plate of toast with some fresh fruit and scrambled eggs then placed it in front of Hermione.

"Th-thank you. Both of you. I don't know what I would do without you." Hermione wiped her face and started nibbling on a piece of melon. Meanwhile Draco Malfoy observed the trio from afar…

Hermione was halfway through her third slice of melon when students suddenly started screaming and pointing at the head table, or at least that is how it seemed to the Professors sitting at said table. In reality the students were screaming about a nearly naked teenaged body that had suddenly appeared, hanging from the rafters and pressed up against the back wall. It took Dumbledore a full two minutes and forty-three seconds (Blaise counted) to realize that the students were not screaming at the staff but at something behind them. By that time every student had gotten a good look at the body and Hermione realized that it was Percy Weasley.

"Wh-what d-d-did you guys d-do?" Hermione stammered, her eyes open wide and nearly bulging out of her face. Percy Weasley had been hung from the Great Halls invisible rafters by his own hair, hair that Harry and Blaise had potioned into growing to the right length, although the potion made _all_ of his hair grow, including his eyebrows which now drooped down past his face, his armpit hair was long enough that it could be knitted into a rather adequate scarf, and there was a large but oddly shaped bulge located over his crotch. Percy's shirtless torso had several things written across it in black ink that said "Failure to protect", "Bystanders are bullies too", "Enabler", then there was a large Swastika stamped across his entire ;y there was "Bullies and their enablers beware!" across his back in large dark bold letters that could be easily read even from the far end of the hall.

Headmaster Dumbledore cast a swift cutting charm to free Percy, catching him with a Arresto Momentum spell that saw the abused redhead softly float down to the ground with nary a sound. Then the aged Headmaster turned and addressed the student body, his trademark twinkle nowhere to be seen. "This- this is beyond unacceptable. Whomever has done this has until the end of the day to turn themselves in, or until we discover who you are, whichever comes first. If you come to us then I can promise leniency, but this sort of assault will not be tolerated." Deputy Headmistress Minerva Mcgonagall was floating Percy Weasley out of the Great Hall as Dumbledore spoke, the Weasley twins jumping out from behind their table to follow; Ron Weasley was still snoring the day away up in Gryffindor Tower. Dumbledore swepts his gaze across the Great Hall, inspecting each student with keen eyes and briefly slowing when he saw a lone Gryffindor sitting at the Slytherin table…

"Everyone is dismissed, go to your classes." Dumbledore stated sternly. While his voice was not raised in any way each and every student could feel the anger radiating from the man, from the most powerful wizard alive in Magical Britain at the moment. The students who had been eating just a few minutes before now scrambled to get out of their seats and began rushing to the exit. The mass exit was calm and orderly but they were all moving a little bit faster, and sticking together a little bit closer.

XxX

"Harry James Potter! What in the world were you thinking! You are going to be in so much trouble! You're going to get expelled! And-and-and-" Hermione's diatribe stuttered out once the bushy haired Gryffindor saw the smirk on her mute friends face, Harry's confidence in sharp contrast to Blaise's slightly nervous and forced smile.

" _Trust me._ " Harry silently signed.

"I trust you Harry but," Blaise began softly "the Headmaster was furious… I figured he would be mad but, even if we don't get expelled he'll make life here like hell just to spite us for standing up to one of his precious Weasley's." Blaise finished his statement with a sneer that was dampened by his own nervousness.

" _Don't worry. He never saw our faces or heard our voices. We didn't use any wand magic so they can't trace residual magic back to us, and our use of muggle markers and the Nazi reference will push suspicion towards muggleborn and away from any Slytherin, including ourselves._ "

"How did you not use magic? I mean he was invisible and hanging by hair that was forty feet long." Hermione questioned dubiously.

" _I used wandless magic to capture the Weasel but otherwise everything was done with potions. The teachers might be able to find out what potions we used but none of them are dangerous or illegal as they're commonly purchased by hundreds of people every day._ "

"He's right about that." Blaise put in "I know my sister would buy the same hair potion we used so that she could change her hair whenever she wanted, even here at Hogwarts." Blaise shuddered theatrically.

" _Is she like Rapunzel now then?_ " Harry signed with a grin on his face.

"Is she what?" Replied Blaise

"Rapunzel. Honestly Harry, you should know better than to reference a muggle fairy tale to a pureblood." Hermione answered for her lost looking friend. "Rapunzel is a Muggle Fairy Tale about a beautiful princess who is locked up in a tall tower. She never cuts her hair and it grows so long that when a Prince comes to rescue her she just threw her hair out the window of the tower for the Prince to climb up." Hermione lectured happily.

"Wait, the prince climbed up her _hair!_ Like a rope?" Blaise exclaimed with wide eyes. "But wouldn't that hurt?" Hermione started giggling while Harry smiled fondly at his two friends and tried to help Hermione explain muggle fairy tales to a pureblood wizard…

XxX

The rest of the term flew by like as quickly as Ignotus chasing after the Golden Snitch during a Quidditch game and Christmas break was upon Hogwarts quicker than anyone would have expected. So it was late at night, only hours after the majority of the students had left the grand Castle of Hogwarts when Headmaster Dumbledore found himself sitting behind his desk with several powerful locking charms preventing anyone from accessing his room and a large sparkling pile of red powder known as Afa Dust sitting on the center of his large and ornately carved desk. "Everything is coming together Flopsy, young Ignotus will soon undertake his first test. I've already placed the compulsion charm on the Potter invisibility cloak. Ignotus will find the Mirror of Erised and believe that he just happened upon it during his explorations of the castle."

"Yer a sick old bastard Dumbledore, to be willing to put a child in front of an artifact like that!" Flopsy the Hogwarts Sorting Hat snarled.

"Now now, that is quite uncalled for Flopsy. The boy will be in no danger, I shall be there to break the mirrors entrancement over him when the time is right." Dumbledore replied sagely as he waved his wand and conjured a a long thin sheet of paper that he poured a large amount of the Afa Dust onto before folding it in half and then rolling it into a thick cylinder that was about the same diameter of three of Dumbledore's fingers. A simple wave of his wand cast the engorgio charm on the Afa joint and the finger thick roll suddenly became thicker than the most expensive Cuban Cigar.

"Somehow I don't think that's how you're supposed to use that charm ya dusty old windbag." Snapped the Sorting Hat.

"Oh Flopsy, this is EXACTLY what this charm was designed for! It was the 60's, the 1360's to be exact. One Tomwise Nott found that his drug habit was causing him to swindle away his family fortune! Faced with the possibility of having to give up his Afa Dust, Mare Water, and Petra Pebbles Mr Nott started search for a way to gain more of the wonderful mind-altering substances that would not leave him destitute and unable to continue his appreciation for such fine products." Dumbledore paused as he put the massive Afa Dust Cigar between his teeth and tapped the end with wand, causing a puff of smoke to burst out and float in front of the esteemed Headmasters face. "Now Mr Nott tried a variety of methods to extend what product he had left, he tried mixing Mare water with regular water, mixing Afa Dust with a muggle drug called Ko-Cane, both without success. Tomwise tried duplication spells and thought he had found a solution only to realize that the duplicated product had zero potency." The Sorting Hat "Flopsy" grimaced at the Headmasters look of utter sorrow as he spun the tale of his fellow drug users woe. "Tomwise Nott had exhausted every option available to him but rather than give up hope he soldiered on and started experiment with new magic. Just as he was about to run out of gold Tomwise finally found a solution, a charm of his own design that would increase the mass of anything he wished." Dumbledore pulled a handkerchief from his robes inside pocket and gently dabbed away the few tears that had escaped as he told his story.

"Crazy old goat-fucker..." The Sorting Hat mumbled under its breath, just low enough that the Headmaster could not hear but not quite enough to escape the portraits on the wall behind him who all smirked, giggled, or simply turned away from the scene before them as Dumbledore drew a large puff from his Afa Dust Cigar, blowing out a glittering red cloud of smoke.

"Now what am I going to do about young Harry Potter? Had he been sorted anywhere but Slytherin he could have been brought into my plan alongside his brother, but this is too large a task to be entrusted to a snake..."

"What have ye got against Slytherin you dusty old windbag?" Flopsy inquired with all the grace he could muster, which was none at all. "I'll be the first to admit that a good half of that house is probably doomed to join one Dark Lord or another, but to condemn a by just for being sorted there? What kind of Headmaster writes off an entire house like that?"

"If only you knew what I knew Flopsy," Dumbledore stared sadly at the enchanted hat and took another long drag of his Afa Dust Cigar "if only you had seen what I've seen. So long as Tom Riddle lives, all the snakes are destined for darkness. Perhaps once young Ignotus prevails he will be able to redeem his twin, but until then Harry cannot be trusted."

"The snake-faced bastard murdered the Potters, nearly wiped out the entire family, why would Harry Potter join him?"

"I do not know Flopsy. I wish I did, but I do not need to understand the why in order to prevent the outcome. One cannot escape their fate, it is the one truly unstoppable force in our world." Dumbledore sighed deeply and stared longingly at the half smoked Afa Dust Cigar in his hand before taking several small puffs and blowing them out in triangular smoke rings that settled over the tip of the Sorting Hat. "I am a child of Prophecy myself Flopsy..." Dumbledore sighed deeply, staring at the burning joint of Afa Dust settled between the forefingers of his right hand. "I thought I could fight it when I was young. I thought that we could overcome the Prophecy that damned us. We believed that our fate would be whatever we wished to make of it, we were the most powerful wizards of our age and the world was supposed to be ours for the taking." The Hogwarts Sorting Hat sat uncharacteristically silently as he knew that any disturbance could stop the secretive Headmaster's reminiscence. "I was fated to lead the fight against darkness from before I was even born, fated to love those who I must fight. I thought we could lead the light together but he was seduced by the draw of absolute power. Even after that, I hoped that if I was just skilled enough, if I was powerful enough, that I could stop the others from becoming dark, or that I could redeem them." Dumbledore slumped back in his throne like chair and started listlessly at his Phoenix chick (the poor chicks burning day had been just that morning). "I'm done fighting fate, it can't be beat. I am to lead the Light against my own students who have fallen into Darkness. Harry Potter may not have fallen into the Darkness just yet, but he is destined to do so, just as I am destined to spend my life fighting it." The Headmasters eyes refocused and his back straightened in his seat. "Now I think I know just how to put Harry in his place, however young Draco will just need a little help."

"Considering what Severus told you about their last confrontation you would think that the prissy Malfoy spawn will need more than just a _little_ help." Flopsy snarked, seeing that Dumbledore's introspection had finished.

"Yes, of course. Draco does not seem to be anything like his father. He lacks the cunning, charisma, and power that Lucius always had in spades, even at the tender age of 11." Dumbledore pulled one final drag out of the rapidly shrinking Afa Dust Cigar and held the glittery smoke in his lungs as long as he could before blowing it out from his nose, giving him the comical effect of looking like a bearded and wrinkled dragon. "The young Malfoy heirs' shortcomings will only make him easier for me to lead him where I need." Dumbledore said as much to himself as to Flopsy while he stroked his incredibly long beard, silently continuing his dastardly planning...


	8. 8 Legged Freaks

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything in the Harry Potter Universe. If I did own Harry Potter then Ron Weasley would likely have been eaten alive by Aragog and his kin and Malfoy would have been repeatedly bitch-slapped. Thankfully the wonderful JK Rowling not only allows us to write fanfics where this happens, she even encourages it. So read on and enjoy.

 _ **Last time on Darkness Rising…**_

" _I'm just running a few diagnostic charms to make sure that you are healthy after your accident but it does seem like you have healed up nicely." Madam Pomfrey said with a kind smile that caused the sternness in her face to melt away. "Do you not remember what happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked upon seeing the confused expression on her young patients face. "Well you had a run-in with a fully grown Mountain Troll about two days ago now. Apparently you released an incredible burst of accidental magic that protected yourself and your friends. Professor Dumbledore said that the backlash could have killed you. You're quite lucky you know."_

" _I mean it! S-stop this now!" Percy stuttered, his voice growing unsteady for a moment before Harry saw him begin to thrash around and try to physically free himself while shouting, "Leeet mmmeeee oooooouut!" Harry smirked, knowing that no one was close enough to hear the Prefects panicked cries. After a few more moments of watching the Weasley Prefect squirm Harry used his magic to pull one of the empty chairs in a neighboring classroom into his hands, lifted the chair above his head, then smashed it down on Percy Weasley's back. Percy fell to his knees and struggled to stay upright but Harry slammed the chair down on him again, and this time Percy fell to the ground, moaning softly but no longer struggling..._

 _Hermione was halfway through her third slice of melon when students suddenly started screaming and pointing at the head table, or at least that is how it seemed to the Professors sitting at said table. In reality the students were screaming about a nearly naked teenaged body that had suddenly appeared, hanging from the rafters and pressed up against the back wall. It took Dumbledore a full two minutes and forty-three seconds (Blaise counted) to realize that the students were not screaming at the staff but at something behind them. By that time every student had gotten a good look at the body and Hermione realized that it was Percy Weasley..._

" _Everything is coming together Flopsy, young Ignotus will soon undertake his first test. I've already placed the compulsion charm on the Potter invisibility cloak. Ignotus will find the Mirror of Erised and believe that he just happened upon it during his explorations of the castle."_

" _I do not know Flopsy. I wish I did, but I do not need to understand the why in order to prevent the outcome. One cannot escape their fate, it is the one truly unstoppable force in our world." Dumbledore sighed deeply and stared longingly at the half smoked Afa Dust Cigar in his hand before taking several small puffs and blowing them out in triangular smoke rings that settled over the tip of the Sorting Hat. "I am a child of Prophecy myself Flopsy..." Dumbledore sighed deeply, staring at the burning joint of Afa Dust settled between the forefingers of his right hand. "I thought I could fight it when I was young..._

" _Now I think I know just how to put Harry in his place however, young Draco will just need a little help."_

 **And Now…**

Harry raced through the Forbidden forest, jumping over gnarled roots that popped out of the earth, and ducking under low hanging branches. He could feel his feet falling through the light layer of crunchy snow and onto the frozen earth below it, and the blood pounding to his head and legs. Harry still didn't understand how everything could have gone so horribly wrong, he still didn't know who was doing this, the only good thing seemed to be that his enemy seemed to be unaware of the full extent of his powers (namely his wandless magic). The panicking eleven year old wizard heard a chittering sound somehwere above him and quickly slid to a stop, looking around wildly but seeing nothing. He grasped the notes in his robe pocket and pulled them out to read one more time while he caught his breath.

 _Harry Potter,_

 _It's time that you learn how the Wizarding World works. If you ever want to see your pet mudblood again you will meet me in the forbidden forest tonight at midnight. Enter the forest from behind the gameskeepers shack at 1130, and after walking in a straight line for ten minutes wait for further instruction. If you tell anyone about this, or are followed into the forest then you will never find her body._

After following the instructions and waiting in the determined area Harry was met by one of the school owls who bore the second note.

 _Harry Potter,_

 _I am glad to see that you can follow instructions, now travel west, if you run quickly you should emerge at a clearing just behind the Black Lake where I will be waiting with your mudblood whore. Don't be late or you won't like what happens to her._

Harry had been running in the direction that he _thought_ was west for the past twenty minutes but hadn't found any sort of clearing, and the Black Lake was nowhere in sight. Harry was horribly lost and his best friend was in awful danger! Hermione wasn't even supposed to be at Hogwarts but she had received a last minute letter from her parents telling her that they had both gotten sick and that she should stay at the castle rather than come home just to be infected by their sickness. Having caught his breath Harry looked around him again and could only see that he could not tell where he was but he heard that strange chittering sound again, so Harry pulled out his wand and lifted it above his head as its tip started to glow with the bright glow of a Lumos charm. The bright bluish light encompassed the area around Harry, spiraling out and revealing an incredibly large, hairy spider, their eight long spindly legs moving in some sort of freakish and unnatural concert. Two rows of large bulbous eyes that were completely bereft of humanity stared at him from atop a round head with two very large and extremely intimidating pincers that were dripping with a slimy looking poison. Harry's mouth opened in a silent scream as absolute terror plastered itself all over his face. The lion-sized Acromantula started lowering itself down towards the terrified first year so Harry thrust out his hands and his magic sent the monster soaring through the sky. Nearly dropping his wand Harry scrambled to his feet, wondering when he had fallen to the ground and started running. Where he ran was inconsequential, only that it was far, far away from the horrifying spider. However Harry soon noticed that the trees around him were covered in white webbing and that the chittering sound he had heard from the earlier Acromantula seemed to be getting louder and more consistent. Looking around wildly, Harry saw that several more Acromantula had found him, and if the sound around him was any sign then there were likely far more that he couldn't see. Harry grit his teeth and started pushing his magic throughout his limbs, after feeling his body become saturated with his magical energy Harry literally leapt into motion. Soaring over a giant spider to his right Harry landed on both feet and dashed way with an inhuman burst of speed. Moving with all the grace of the Jedi he had emulated growing up Harry was able to weave his way around, under, and over any Acromantula that came near him, the only problem was that there was always another waiting to catch him. Harry was too quick and nimble for the large spiders to capture, but he was unable to escape their territory and seemed to be slowly driven further into it as the spider-webbing appeared to be covering more and more of the forest.

Harry skidded to a stop as a large web covered the opening between the trees in front of him, effectively creating a dead end. Harry spun around only to see 3 spiders, each the size of an extremely large NFL linebacker - in other words, huge! Harry paused to catch his breath as the spiders slowly and cautiously creeped forward, he had been running, jumping, spinning, diving, twirling, sliding, and even hopping in his valiant efforts to stay away from the eight legged freaks of magic and nature. The three spiders creeped ever closer, and just as the centre one seemed as though it was preparing to leap forward Harry thrust his palms out and used his wandless magic to send all three Acromantula flying away with a "force push" and started to run away again. Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand as he was dashing away from the dead end he had been momentarily trapped in and was suddenly knocked to the ground by a heavy weight falling on top of him. Harry rolled on the ground to see a spider four times his own size standing over him, its large intimidating pincers clicking together less than a foot from his face. The acromantula leaned forward and dug its venomous pincers into Harry's shoulder, drawing a grimace of pain but no sound from the mute wizard. The Acromantula raised its head and started walking backwards, dragging Harry along the ground as its pincers were still imbedded in his bloody shoulder. Harry started kicking ineffectually at the spiders hairy and spindly legs as he cried out soundlessly in pain, his face twisted into a horrible grimace of pain while tears threatened to flow from his watery eyes. It wasn't long before Harry could feel his body weakening, the poison from the Acromantula bite flowing through his veins and draining his strength, sapping his will to fight. Harry looked all around and saw that there were dozens of spiders approaching, they varied in size from a large house-cat to a small car but they all had the same dead eyes, and made the same chittering noise with their pincers. Several of the smaller Acromantula dashed forward and bit into the soft meat on Harry's legs and torso, each one causing Harry to scream soundlessly in pain. However Harry could feel something changing, the lethargy invading his body was being replaced by a burning sensation. It was mild at first but soon Harry felt as though his entire body was on fire and as Harry saw the massive spiders back away from him and begin to spin their webs around him he felt that heat build more and more until the burning was so painful that he nearly wished to go back to being eaten by the spiders.

Harry knew this feeling though, he had endured it once before, on the night he and Ignotus finally escaped the Dursleys, he knew that the pain was nothing more than the path to his salvation. So Harry Potter gritted his teeth and endured as the magic building in him started to glow, just as it did all those years ago, then he started to smoke. Before the Acromantula could comprehend where the smoke was coming from or what it meant Harry burst into a ball of flame; and had Albus Dumbledore been present, he would have likened it to a burst of Phoenix fire in its appearance. The flames burst out and burnt away the partially formed cocoon surrounding Harry in seconds continuing to expand and catching several Acromantula by surprise before the rest wizened up and started running. The flames slowed their expansion and started to form into a large orb surrounding Harry, the orb grew taller as Harry stood up from the ground with his wounds smoking as the Acromantula poison was magically burnt out of his system. SIlently snarling in anger Harry thrust both his hands outwards from his sides and the orb of flame grew two long appendages that moved in concert with Harry's arms. Harry reached out with his magic, sending the fire bursting forwards and engulfing the monstrous spiders who screamed in pain as they were cooked alive. While Harry maintained control over his fiery avatar, the forest around him was also catching fire, a fire that spread incredibly quickly and became visible from the nearby castle within minutes.

XxX

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Supreme Mugwump of the ICW was sitting in his high in his tower office sucking on a Lemon drop that had a tiny melted Petra Pebble in the center when he saw the tongues of fire licking at the air from the top of several trees in the forbidden forest. He thought little of it at first, but within minutes a few tongues of flame threatened to become a raging inferno that would do terrible harm to the Forbidden Forest. The Headmaster didn't even spare a look in the directions of his Phoenix, it was still too close to its burning day to be able to help him now; instead he turned on his heel and disappeared with a small pop; using his status as Headmaster to apparate through the famous Hogwarts wards.

XxX

Harry Potter felt a chill run down his spine despite the heat of the flames surrounding him. He could feel his magical reserves running dangerously low, yet the virtual army of Acromantula had yet to give up and they seemed to be endless. Harry had already roasted nearly two dozen of the ravenous spiders but he could still see more creeping around the edges of his vision and every minute or so one of them would attempt to lunge at him. Despite the use of fire these spiders were quite large and took a lot of fire to kill. The forest around him was aflame as well and the smoke was starting to make it difficult to breathe Harry noted as he coughed into the sleeve of his robe. Harry would have used his magic to clear the smoke away but his control over the flames around him was tenuous at best and he dared not to split his attention lest he find himself roasted like a chestnut much the same as the giant spiders attacking him. Harry was just beginning to wonder just how the hell he was going to escape when he felt a powerful wave of magic sweep over him. Rugged icey javelins speared several Acromantula that were trying to sneak up on Harry, and half a dozen lions charged forward, bellowing with powerful bone rattling roars as their gleaming claws and fangs easily dismembered the eight-legged-monstrosities.

"You are safe now Harry Potter." Harry heard a distinguished voice speak from behind him and spun around to see his Headmaster clad in bright purple and red robes with bright yellow ducky slippers. Normally Harry would have silently scoffed at such _colorful_ attire but he was not about to risk offending the man saving him from the nasty evil spiders. Harry released his magic and ran behind the tall Headmaster who flicked his wrist several times and then swept his wand in front of him before finishing with a small twirl of the wand and a veritable wall of water appeared out of thin air, surrounding the two wizards in a sphere that steadily expanded and quickly doused the flames left over from Harry's magical fire. Harry watched in awe as the lions were transfigured into more water that was used to extinguish the forest fire that had been quickly expanding in an attempt to become a endless raging inferno. Dumbledore smiled at his first year student in Slytherin robes and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Take a deep breathe my boy." Dumbledore said a moment before Harry felt himself being squished and dragged through a tiny magical tunnel at a incredible speed, then unceremoniously dragged out and onto the ground on the other side. Harry tripped to his knees upon landing whilst the elder Headmaster appeared perfectly in place, yellow ducky slippers and all "Whatever were you doing in the Forbidden Forest so late at night Mr. Potter?"

Harry pulled out the notes that had been delivered to him, instructing him to go out into the forest and threatening his muggleborn friend Hermione. Upon handing them to the Headmaster, the elder wizard frowned and flipped the notes around. "What exactly is this blank parchment supposed to mean Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore showed Harry both sides of the parchment that was now conspicuously clear of the instructions and threats they had held before.

Harry stared at the blank parchment and schooled his features so as not to betray the shock he felt. Harry took his flashcards from his robe pocket and then stared at them frustratedly for a moment before putting them away and pulling out a blank paper and a muggle pencil.

"There is no need for that Mr. Potter. What kind of Headmaster would I be if I could not communicate with all my students?" Dumbledore spoke with a soft smile and a twinkle in his eye.

" _I received a note threatening my friend in Gryffindor,_ " Harry started signing.

"Miss Granger?" Dumbledore interrupted softy

" _Yes. It threatened her safety and told me to go into the Forest, but then I was attacked by those giant spiders!_ " Harry signed with wide eyes. " _What were those?_ "

"Those giant spiders are known as Acromantula and are only one of the many reasons the Forbidden Forest is forbidden." Dumbledore said as he waved his wand over the parchment Harry had given him; the parchment glowed blue for a moment, then several green sparks fell to the ground from the parchment, and finally it flashed white when Dumbledore softly jabbed his wand towards it.. "I'm afraid there is no evidence of this note you say you have received." Dumbledore smiled softly but with an air of grandfatherly disappointment at the eleven year old wizard and swept his wand across Harry vanishing the upper parts of his tattered robes. "Now let's get you off to Madam Pomfrey, it seems your little excursion has left you injured and she will be quite cross with me should I deny her the chance to treat a patient. Then I shall check on Miss Granger and ensure she is safely in her dorms." With his piece spoken the Headmaster took Harry by the arm and popped them into the school infirmary, leaving Harry Potter at the tender mercy of the school nurse.

XxX

The morning saw Harry Potter groggily waking up in one of the stiff hospital beds covered by a thin white scratchy blanket with a bushy haired witch quietly watching over him. "Harry," whispered the bushy haired 12 year old "are you awake?" Harry nodded and started to push himself into an upright position when Hermione sniffled loudly. "What happened to you?" Hermione asked, her voice cracking slightly.

Harry was about to start signing his reply when he noticed that he wasn't in his school robes, and that a number of his scars were easily visible in the short-sleeved white hospital gown. Deciding to ignore them and the fact that his best female friend was probably asking about them, Harry answered her by telling her about the previous night. Harry told Hermione that he had been delivered a note by a ordinary school owl claiming to hold her hostage and to meet them in the forbidden forest in order to save her and that he had been attacked by an army of giant man-eating spiders until he had been saved by the Headmaster.

"That's not what I mean Harry! I mean, yes it is, but what about THOSE!" Hermione cried as she tore Harry's scratchy hospital blanket off of him, revealing several scars along his arms and legs that betrayed the life of torment and suffering he had been forced to survive before coming to Hogwarts. Harry sighed at his best friends theatrics, at least Slytherin students had the courtesy not to say anything when they saw him out of his robes in the common, gender split bathroom he shared with all 7 years of male Slytherins.

" _Don't worry about it Hermione._ " Harry signed futilely, knowing that his friend would never give up so easily.

"How can I not worry about it? Look at you! Yo- you're scarred Harry! Everywhere!" Hermione was starting to sound mildly hysterical and Harry spotted Madam Pomfrey step out of her office and start to walk over with a stern glare directed at the wailing Gryffindor.

" _We can talk later, but the nurse is about to kick you out._ " Harry's hands flashed quickly as he communicated silently. The imperious looking school nurse arriving just as he set his hands back down.

"Miss Granger this is a place of healing, not squealing. Now I believe that is is time for you to go, you may return to visit your friend later." Madam Pomfrey spoke not unkindly, but with a finality to her tone that brooked no argument. Hermione slid off her stool beside Harry's hospital cot and nearly ran out of the room, her face burning red with embarrassment over being reprimanded by a staff member.

"Now Mr. Potter. It seems you are getting in the habit of putting yourself through magical exhaustion." Madam Pomfrey said disapprovingly. "This is putting a strain on your magical core that could lead to serious problems; death being one of the more favorable possibilities." Harry nodded along and scratched at the itchy hospital gown. "Luckily we keep a large amount of Acromantula Antivenom on hand or you would be facing some severe loss of mobility in your arm which might have had an affect on your ability to cast magic if you were unable to make the proper wand movements. Hopefully you've learned your lesson and won't be making any further excursions into the Forbidden Forest." Madam Pomfrey finished her sentence with a stern tone that promised to force the most disgusting potions down his throat should he get injured in such a manner again. Harry simply nodded again, his eyes widening as he realized how dangerous his encounter with the giant spiders (or Acromantula as he now realized they were called) had been and how lucky he was. Harry tuned out the Mediwtiches complaints about naming the forest next to the school "Forbidden" and that by doing so they were practically begging students to flaunt the rules and explore the monster infested forest and focused instead on who might have tried to hurt or possibly even kill him. An hour of introspection later Harry decided that there were only two actually plausible options and that neither could likely be proven. The first option was that Draco Malfoy had set him up, but that seemed unlikely despite the fact that he had elected to spend the Christmas break at Hogwarts. Malfoy seemed the type who would want his revenge to be far more public than this had been in order to regain his stolen dignity. The second, and slightly more likely option was that an older Slytherin student wanted to "set him straight", either due to his connection to his twin brother "The-Boy-Who-Lived" or due to his being a half-blood. While no one had outright said anything to him directly Harry knew that most of his house bought into the pureblood dogma. Neither option was likely but Harry knew that he would have to be careful, and make sure that his friends and twin all knew to watch their backs in case the next attempt at whatever this was supposed to be was more serious. The letter had been a bluff this time, but it might not be the next time.

Harry was reflected on how he had managed himself against the giant spiders, Acromantula as the Headmaster and School Nurse as said. Overall Harry felt that he had done poorly, Had the Headmaster not arrived he would likely be spun up in a web with his organs being liquefied so that the Acromantula could slurp up all of his wizardly goodness like a magical milkshake. Transfiguration would have let him create walls from the earth to protect his back at the very least, but as it was Harry still found that he was hopeless with wanded magic. Something that had been irritating and disheartening before had suddenly become unacceptable and Harry knew that he had to find some way to overcome his trouble with wanded magic, no matter how much effort it took him…

 **AN: I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 8. Things are moving quickly as I don't want to waste time telling you about each and every class where Harry shows little to no improvement. That seems like it would be as boring to read as it would be to write. But the plot has thickened and Harry is learning that for all his power, he is actually kind of weak. Which is a fair assessment for an 11 year old boy. I want this to be realistic, not another fic where Harry is superpowered and kills Voldy with only a few years of schooling under his belt. I am also working on a Time Travel Fic, but it is going even more slowly than this one so don't expect to see it anytime soon. I mostly just work on it when I am feeling blocked here. But hey, if you liked this chapter then please give me a review. If you want to chat then shoot me a pm. And I'll try to get back to you quickly. Thank for reading!**


	9. Fallout

**AN:** I would like to thank NineYetis and mizzrazz72 for their reviews on chapter 8, and would also like to address mizzrazz72's review stating that _"Harry should have realized the trap that he walked into or the fact how Dumbledore arrived so fast."_ The reason Harry did not realize it was a trap is because he is only 11 years old. If I were to walk up to an 11 year old on the street and tell them that they had to go into a forest alone without telling anyone or I would kill their best friend who I already held hostage; most kids are going to simply take me at my word and do what they have to in order to save their friend. Harry also had no way to contact Hermione to confirm if she was safe as he cannot enter Gryffindor Tower, nor does he have an owl to send her a letter (although the letter isn't a great idea anyways). As for Dumbledore getting there "so fast", Harry had already been somewhat horribly injured and was running out of strength by the time Dumbledore finally arrived by apparating nearby (or teleporting as a muggle would call it) and the massive forest fire that Harry had inadvertently started served as a beacon that marked his general location that could be seen for a few miles, especially in the dark. Harry also has no reason to suspect Dumbledore of anything, as he was not a part of my favored Dumbledore, Flopsy, and Afa Dust scenes in any way. A lot of writers have their Harry Potter reacting and thinking like an adult despite only being 11 or 12 years old. My Harry is still a kid, a mature kid but a kid nonetheless and as such he will make mistakes such as falling for a bluff telling him to walk into the forbidden forest alone at night. Hopefully that clears up why Harry didn't realize he was walking into a trap.

 _ **Last time on Darkness Rising…**_

 _Harry spun around only to see 3 spiders, each the size of an extremely large NFL linebacker - in other words, huge! Harry paused to catch his breath as the spiders slowly and cautiously creeped forward, he had been running, jumping, spinning, diving, twirling, sliding, and even hopping in his valiant efforts to stay away from the eight legged freaks of magic and nature._

 _The Acromantula raised its head and started walking backwards, dragging Harry along the ground as its pincers were still imbedded in his bloody shoulder. Harry started kicking ineffectually at the spiders hairy and spindly legs as he cried out soundlessly in pain, his face twisted into a horrible grimace of pain while tears threatened to flow from his watery eyes._

 _SIlently snarling in anger Harry thrust both his hands outwards from his sides and the orb of flame grew two long appendages that moved in concert with Harry's arms. Harry reached out with his magic, sending the fire bursting forwards and engulfing the monstrous spiders who screamed in pain as they were cooked alive. While Harry maintained control over his fiery avatar, the forest around him was also catching fire, a fire that spread incredibly quickly and became visible from the nearby castle within minutes._

" _You are safe now Harry Potter." Harry heard a distinguished voice speak from behind him and spun around to see his Headmaster clad in bright purple and red robes with bright yellow ducky slippers. Normally Harry would have silently scoffed at such colorful attire but he was not about to risk offending the man saving him from the nasty evil spiders._

" _I'm afraid there is no evidence of this note you say you have received." Dumbledore smiled softly but with an air of grandfatherly disappointment at the eleven year old wizard and swept his wand across Harry vanishing the upper parts of his tattered robes. "Now let's get you off to Madam Pomfrey, it seems your little excursion has left you injured and she will be quite cross with me should I deny her the chance to treat a patient. Then I shall check on Miss Granger and ensure she is safely in her dorms."_

 _An hour of introspection later Harry decided that there were only two actually plausible options and that neither could likely be proven. The first option was that Draco Malfoy had set him up, but that seemed unlikely despite the fact that he had elected to spend the Christmas break at Hogwarts. Malfoy seemed the type who would want his revenge to be far more public than this had been in order to regain his stolen dignity. The second, and slightly more likely option was that an older Slytherin student wanted to "set him straight", either due to his connection to his twin brother "The-Boy-Who-Lived" or to his being a half-blood._

 **And Now…**

Hermione Granger stared outside from a window on the third floor that overlooked the school grounds, watching her first and best friend attempt to transfigure the snow around him just as he had been doing for almost every waking moment since escaping the tender mercies of Madam Pomfrey. Hermione had taken the opportunity to attempt warming charms but found that hey either did nothing at all, or made herself and harry unbearably hot for about 5 minutes before failing completely. By the second day Hermione had given up and retreated to the library to study the theory behind the advanced (for her age group) charm. That had been three days ago now and Harry still refused to give up and stubbornly stood outside, waving his wand until his lips started to turn blue and Hermione literally dragged him inside. Harry's routine also had the frustrating side effect of preventing Hermione from questioning him further on the multitude of scars on his body that the long sleeved school robes typically kept hidden. The scars had quite honestly terrified Hermione, no one should have that many scars on their body, let alone a boy her age! She had been able to see what looked like bite marks from an animal on one of his arms and legs, while the opposite leg looked like it had been horribly burned. The oversized hospital gown had also shown off part of Harry's chest which also had scars trailing downwards that Hermione had been unable to identify in the short time before Madam Pomfrey had ushered her out. She had tried to confront him about it but Harry just signed that it was "no big deal" and that there was "no point in fretting over the past when we have magic to learn"before pushing a their transfiguration textbook into her hands and promptly ignoring any further attempts to learn about how he had gotten so scarred. Hermione had no idea what to do if her friend wouldn't talk to her, so she did what she always did when she didn't know what to do and wrote a letter to her parents asking for advice.

XxX

Harry Potter was on the verge of a breakthrough. He could feel his wand responding to him as he attempted to mold a small mound of snow into snowballs. It was laughably basic magic that would have most of his yearmates laughing and jeering at him but Harry could feel himself get closer to finally unlocking the secret to wanded magic with each failure. Harry pointed his wand at he snowpile for what felt like the billionth time and imagined the snow pushing together to create a snowball. It would barely be considered transfiguration, but Harry figured that little steps forward were better than no progress at all. Watching his magic fail again Harry rubbed his cold numb hands together and glared at the uncooperative snow, then kicked it into the air. Harry drew his wand and stubbornly tried again, and again, and again…

XxX

It was the final day of the Christmas break, or at least the final day before all its students returned. Harry and Hermione were running outside, dodging snowballs that they each aimed at each other. This normally ordinary activity was much more than just a snowball fight however, as Harry Potter had finally made a breakthrough in regards to his Wand Magic the previous day and was now waving his wand to create massive snowballs the size of his head, while Hermione returned fire with a multitude of smaller more ordinary sized snowballs. The two children were running and laughing with joy as they pelted each other with balls of snow. Each time Harry hit Hermione she would fall on her bum, and she quickly learned to cast a weak protego charm or Harry would proceed to practically bury her in snow. While the shield charm was not powerful enough to stop a properly cast spell, it was able to hold the snow at bay. Professor Flitwick watched from a window inside Hogwarts Castle with a proud smile on his face as Harry's continued use of wanded magic, the smile fell ever so slightly as he sensed a presence behind him.

"I do not understand what you see in the boy Filius." The grandfatherly voice of Albus Dumbledore floated out from behind the diminutive charms professor. "It was Ignotus Potter that drove away Voldemort, not Harry."

"I don't believe for a second that either boy had anything to do with Voldemort's fall Albus. It is a preposterous idea." Filius Flitwick responded as he continued to watch the young witch and wizard play in the snow.

"I have told you Filius, the prophecy sta-"

"Bugger your prophecy Albus." Flitwick snorted as he interrupted the stately Headmaster in his blindingly yellow and neon blue robes. "Prophecies either come true or they don't, there is no point in trying to understand them. They are nothing more than a curse meant to drive men mad."

"Ignotus drove away Voldemort once, but he has yet to finish the job! The prophecy is already in motion, don't you see that?" Dumbledore spoke in a frustrated tone that signified that he and Filius Flitwick had had this conversation many times before.

"Don't you see that there is no point in trying to _make_ the prophecy come true? Either it will or it won't and the best you can hope for is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and those NEVER turn out well for the individuals involved." The stout Charms master replied in a bored tone that also signified that this was an oft repeated conversation between himself and the Headmaster. "Let us assume for a moment that this prophecy of yours is true, that Ignotus Potter truly does have some ability that will allow him to overcome Voldemort. Does it say _when_ he will do so? Or how many people will die as we wait for this eleven - now twelve year old boy to grow up and gain the power to do so? Does it even guarantee that Ignotus will win?" As Filius spoke to the Headmaster he did not move from his position in front of the window, he did not stop watching young Harry Potter and Hermione Granger as they played happily in the snow.

"I'm afraid that I cannot divulge the contents of the prophecy. If Voldemort ever learned of them it would be disastrous." Albus Dumbledore said in his best grandfatherly tone.

"Bah! I very much doubt that Albus. I imagine that this prophecy of yours is vague and misleading, just like every other prophecy in existence. I for one, am not nearly dimwitted enough to allow some random prophecy to dictate my life or how I treat others." Filius Flitwick snarked softly. "You wish to know why I spend so much time teaching Harry Potter instead of your vaunted 'Boy-Who-Lived' Albus?" After a few seconds without a response the Charms Master answered himself. "It is because Harry needs the help, and as a teacher it is my job to ensure that he learns the skills required to be a wonderful Wizard. Ignotus is already a talented Wizard for his age who does not require extra lessons to keep up with his peers, nor has he asked me for any additional aid."

"Very well Filius, I see that you still have your mind made up. Enjoy the last bit of your holiday." Dumbledore said stiffly, his grandfatherly persona torn away by the Charms Masters rebuttals and he silently walked away as Professor Flitwick continued to watch his favorite student down below him in the snow.

XxX

Hogwarts was a quarter way through its second term, and while things _seemed_ the same overall, subtle changes were lurking beneath the surface. Ignotus Potter had been interviewed by several papers about what it was like being raised by muggles, and he had painted them a picture of a wonderfully happy childhood, filled with outrageous adventures to other countries where The-Boy-Who-Lived rode elephants, studied Komodo Dragons (not that many witches or wizards knew what Komodo Dragons were), and explored mysterious jungles. Those who were in Iggy's inner circle learned about how his parents had set up meetings with several coaches on how to talk to the media and portray a persona, and Iggy had put that coaching to use even outside of interactions with the media. The fan club for the young Gryffindor hero had grown exponentially, especially when said hero started attending select Potter watched from afar, not really understanding why his twin cared about what all these people who cared nothing for him as person thought. Why would Iggy spend time with mindless sycophants who merely agreed with everything he said when he could spend that time with his brother; or friends who actually looked past the fame of The-Boy-Who-Lived.

Albus Dumbledore spent even less time in the public eye as he attempted to use his position as Ignotus Potter's Magical Guardian to block any further attempts to interact with the media and gain any further semblance of control over his following but found that young Ignotus's magical guardianship had already been transferred to one Andromeda Tonks and both she and her husband Ted Tonks were working together with Ignotus's muggle guardians. Dumbledore then spent vast quantities of time ineffectually trying to regain Magical Guardianship over The-Boy-Who-Lived. When Ignotus told Harry about how he had met the Tonks family over his Christmas Holidays during one of their infrequent and steadily shorter meetings Harry angrily stomped away, silently fuming that everyone only seemed to care about his brother, the famous, rich, flawless twin who could barely magic his way out of a wet paper bag in comparison to his own abilities.

Draco Malfoy had become more bold, taunting Gryffindors into losing points and gaining detentions. He had struck up a rivalry with Ignotus Potter that neither boy was willing to back down from after Draco insulted Ignotus' adopted muggle parents as "dirty peasants who smell like Dragon dung" which Ignotus replied by calling out Lucius Malfoy as "Weak-willed drooling ape with the mental capabilities of a vaguely intelligent giant". While neither boy had resorted to violence, physical or magical, their rivalry was exacerbating the already existing rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Fights were often breaking out between the upper year Lions and Snakes, and despite Gryffindor typically casting the first spell, the majority of the fights were started by the Slytherins or started due to their actions that saw some honorable Gryffindor or another butting in to "save the day". Harry Potter was having a terrible time trying to stay neutral, he never publicly went against any other Slytherins as that was the most important rule of Slytherin house, but he would not aid them when the spells started flying either, nor would he do anything to either confirm or deny their excuses when caught by various teachers, merely claiming to not have seen anything. Normally this wouldn't matter as no one would really expect much from a "ickle firstie" but as the twin brother to The-Boy-Who-Lived there were many in Slytherin who believed that he would sell them out for his brother at any moment and wanted proof that he stood with them over the Gryffindors. In fact, some even felt that by refusing to adamantly stand with the rest of his house that he had already betrayed them, something that Draco took great effort in spreading. Harry and Blaise knew that it was only a matter of time before they were called out by these zealous Snakes…

XxX

Tensions simmered in the great stone castle known as Hogwarts for months with nothing more than several schoolyard brawls breaking out between Slytherins and Gryffindors for the rest of the year, but just as exams were wrapping up Harry Potter found himself accosted outside the great hall after lunch by his twin Ignotus and his friends Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, with one bushy haired Hermione Granger oddly tagging along.

"Harry! Harry! Come here!" Ignotus managed to both shout and whisper at the same time while waving his arms until Harry started walking over. Once Harry reached them Ignotus grabbed his brothers arm and pulled him down the hallway and towards a more disused part of the castle.

" _What is it brother, and why is Hermione with you?_ " Harry signed lazily with one hand while running his other hand through his long raven black hair that was currently running loose down and over his shoulders.

"We think that Headmaster Dumbledore is hiding the Philosopher's Stone in the forbidden third floor wing and that either Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell are trying to steal it!" Ignotus half whispered to Harry.

" _So tell the Headmaster._ " Harry replied with a bored look.

"No way! You know that adults never listen to kids like us Harry. Besides, the Headmaster hired them, he wouldn't do that if he didn't trust them." Ignotus spoke while the other two gryffindor boys kept a lookout in case anyone else wandered by.

" _Okay, but why is Hermione here?_ "

"These _boys_ ," Hermione emphasized boys with a slightly distasteful tone "had no idea what the Headmaster was hiding until I overheard them talking about it and figured it out for them."

"Oy, we were close to figuring it out!" Dean protested indignantly.

"Ya well, the teachers aren't going to believe that the other teachers aren't trustworthy so we have to do something Harry!" Ignotus exclaimed with a grin on his face.

" _What do you plan to do then? Watch the entrance every night until someone tries to break in and then blind them into submission with the Lumos spell or a tickling jinx?_ " Harry had a slight look of exasperation at the thought of a group of first years trying to defeat fully trained wizards. Even someone as hopeless and that stuttering fool Quirrell would be able to easily defeat school children with little serious training.

"We've been training." Ignotus said with a smirk on his face and his arms crossed in front of him. "Seamus is really good with the blasting spell and Dean is good with fire charms. I learned the disarming spell and a cutting hex and even the shield charm." Harry started to look impressed, most of those spells were second or third year curriculum; while not enough to defeat a properly trained wizard in a fair fight Harry had long ago learned that the only fair fight was a dumb fight.

" _Okay, maybe we have a chance but we shouldn't be planning to fight an adult wizard if we don't have to._ " Harry signed quickly.

"What should we do then Harry?" Hermione asked, causing Harry to smirk slightly.

" _We go in there and steal it first. I bet we can get past the Cerberus guarding it, but there must be another guard after that._ "

"What do you mean? And how do you know about the Cerberus?" Ignotus asked curiously.

" _Well something as valuable as the Philosopher's Stone must have some sort of back up protection, and everyone in Slytherin knows about the Cerberus little brother._ " Harry playfully ruffled his twins hair with his non-signing hand. " _Tomorrow night I'll meet you just outside the third floor corridor at midnight._ " Harry smiled at his twin Ignotus and walked away to begin plotting his heist…

 **AN: Sorry for the long wait and making this a short chapter but I've been having a hard time trying to write first year and don't want to write a ton of meaningless filler so this first year is already coming to a close. I hope you enjoy what is here and am looking forward to writing the next chapter with my own take on the Philosopher's Stone Trails.**


	10. Trials and Tribulations

**Chapter 10: Trials and Tribulations**

Harry Potter slunk silently through the dark empty halls of Hogwarts castle, his best friend Blaise Zabini followed slightly behind. Both young wizards moved from shadow to shadow, their eyes and ears alert for any sign that the castle carekeeper Argus Filch might be nearby. Filch was a miserable wrinkled old man who took great pleasure in catching students out of bounds and was known throughout the student body for his mutterings about corporal punishments such as caning, or hanging rule-breakers by their thumbnails. There was even the occasional story about how he had pushed a student down the stairs only to claim they had tripped while fleeing from him, although that was not a story that Harry put much stock in. As the two Slytherin first years quickly strode up the stairs onto the third floor corridor landing they both her muffled whispering coming from somewhere nearby. Harry and Blaise looked at each other meaningfully and spread apart, each drawing their wands.

"Who's there?" Blaise called out in a loud whisper. There was more muffled whispering from down the hall just quiet enough that neither Harry nor Blaise could understand what was being said. Harry's eyes darted around looking for the source of the noise and taking in the environment. With a wave of Harry's hand Blaise stepped back until he was against the railing beside the stairs then looked at his friend questionly. Harry smirked at his dark friend then waved his right hand while holding his wand and the carpet on the floor jerked towards him, resulting in a loud thud and the collective groaning of several boys who were only partially visible. Harry and Blaise could see 5 legs, 3 arms, and the head of one Ignotus Potter.

"Bloody hell you guys! You both fell all over me!" Ignotus said in an annoyed tone and he rolled and scrambled to his feet. He then started pulling on a silvery fabric that the fingers on his left hand disappeared in.

"What in Merlin's name? Is that an invisibility cloak?" Blaise asked incredulously. "How did any of you get that!"

"What the hell Harry! You didn't tell me you were bringing a Slytherin!" Ignotus questioned Harry with a glare as he ignored Blaise completely. "Well?"

" _What does it matter? I wouldn't have brought him if he couldn't help._ " Harry signed camly in response.

"But he's a Slytherin!"

" _So am I..._ " Harry signed with a blank face.

"Well ya, but…" Ignotus trailed off as the only argument he had against Blaise was that he was Slytherin.

" _Where's Hermione?_ "

"Hermi- You mean Granger? Why would she be here?" Ignotus questioned while Dean and Seamus nodded in agreement behind him, having finally untangled themselves from the Invisibility cloak.

" _Because she knows more spells then the rest of us combined. She should be here._ " Harry singed quickly, frustration starting to creep onto his face.

"Harry… That's an Invisibility Cloak! A real Invisibility Cloak! Do you have any idea what that's worth?" Blaise whispered at his fellow Slytherin who shrugged in response. "Hey Potter, where did you blokes get ahold of an honest to Merlin Invisibility Cloak?" Blaise asked The-Boy-Who-Lived suspiciously.

"We didn't steal it!" Said Dean and Seamus simultaneously. "Iggy got it for Christmas. It was his dad's!" Dean continued hastily. Harry's eyes darted towards the Invisibility Cloak longingly for a moment before his face hardened. Harry jerked Ignotus away from the other boys as they argued and insulted each other in the hall.

" _Since you can make yourself invisible at will you get to go bring Hermione. And tell your friends to be quiet before you go, if they get any louder we will have every professor in the school coming to see what the racket is._ " Harry signed hastily before slinking away to a dark corner alone. Ignotus quickly turned to his friends and pulled them away as the three of them whispered between themselves while shooting looks at Blaise who simply ignored them and walked over to his best friend.

"What's wrong Harry?"

" _Nothing._ "

"Come on, I know you better than that Harry."

" _I just didn't know that he had something from our father._ "

"Oh. You don't have anything from your dad? What about your mom?"

" _They left me a big vault full of gold but not anything else. Iggy has a vault too._ "

"Oh..." Blaise sunk into an awkward silence as he didn't know what to say anymore despite being able to tell that his friend was more upset then he let on.

An agonizingly long twenty minutes later Iggy Finally returned with one bushy haired witch. "Okay, can we do this now Harry?" Iggy complained loudly.

" _Yes, but be quiet or Filch will catch us before we can do anything._ " Harry singed with an annoyed look on his face. The six first year wizards and witch then rushed into the forbidden third floor corridor with a combination of nervousness and excitement. Hermione opened the locked door with a quickly whispered Alohamora and the first year party slipped into the room.

Inside was an absolutely gigantic dog with short dark fur and three heads that looked as though they could swallow a truck whole, let alone a group of tiny eleven year old children. Just as the leftmost head took notice of the party a musical note sounded from the back and Harry turned to see his twin playing a soft melody on a beautiful dark oak violin. All three heads of the massive Cerberus stared at Ignotus Potter and started waving back and forth in time with the tune, slowly falling to the ground until the were fast asleep and snoring ever so slightly. As Ignotus continued his melodious playing Dean and Seamus quickly dashed to the centre of the room where a trap door was placed directly in front of the sleep heads of the Cerberus and pulled it open, ushering the rest of the party to jump in. The group of first years fell through the trap door and landed on a surprisingly soft, if rather uneven floor in an extremely dark room and started looking for the way forward. There was barely enough light shining in from the trapdoor above them to show that the room was quite small and circular but there was no visible door or exit aside from the same way the children had entered.

"Oy, what are we supposed to do now? It's too dark to see anything." Seamus whined impotently.

"Are you a wizard or not Seamus?" Ignotus sighed, palming his face with his non-wand hand. "Lumos!" Ignotus incanted confidently, only to watch as the light from his wand was smothered before it truly had a chance to shine. "What the hell? Lumos!" Ignotus incanted again confusedly with the same result. "Lumos! Lumos! Lumos! Bloody hell, LUMOS!" Ignotus started waving his wand around wildly as Blaise discreetly attempted to summon his own magical light.

"I think there's something in the room stopping us from creating light guys." Blaise commented. "Maybe we should try fire?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, we have no idea how large this room is, we could set ourselves on fire..." Hermione called out from a few feet away.

"Hey uh Iggy… I can't move my legs." Dean Thomas said with a note of panic in his voice. "Wh-why can't I move my legs? What's going on?" Harry heard a dull thud sound and suddenly Seamus was screaming.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH! SOMETHING'S CRAWLING ON ME! IT'S HOLDING ME DOWN! IGGY, HELP ME!"

"Merlin, Harry? I can't move my legs either, there's something crawling up them." Blaise spoke evenly but Harry could detect a hidden note of panic in his voice.

"Incendio! I-Incendio!" Dean attempted to cast the simple fire charm to little avail. A few sparks flew from the end of his wand but they were extinguished even quicker then they came into existence.

Before Harry could do anything Hermione shouted to everyone "Just stay still! Nobody move or panic!" Her instructions were obviously ignored as the Gryfindors panicked and struggled against whatever was restricting them in the inky darkness. Even Ignotus Potter was struggling wildly against the restraints slowly creeping up their bodies, although he was not screaming for help like his two friends. Harry pushed a bit of energy to his eyes so that he could see the flow of magic and the floor lit up like Christmas morning. Lines of misty green and brown energy made up the floor and was entrapping all of them. He could see tiny pinpricks of pink light dotting the walls and he could see a massive glowing red and yellow figure above their heads that Harry quickly attributed to the Cerberus they had just passed. Deciding that a bit of executive action was in order, (especially as he could feel that whatever was restraining the others was working its way up his legs as well) Harry raised his hands and fired a short but sustained burst of blue lightning from his fingertips. The room lit up as the lightning crackled through the air and Harry could see what appeared to be leafy vines sliding up the party of first years, wrapping itself around their limbs and restricting their movement. Hermione and Blaise were the least covered as the vines slowly worked on them but Harry could see that the Gryfindors were in trouble. With a silent snarl at the sight of his brother struggling against the magical vines Harry loosed a storm of blue lightning down at the floor, watching in fascination as the vines writhed in apparent pain. As the lightning flowed from his fingers the vines shriveled into themselves, contracting and shrinking, freeing the five young Wizards and Witch. Within moments the vines started fleeing Harry, their rapid retreat opening a hole in the floor that they made. The hole grew larger and Harry's companions jumped , or fell through in the case of Seamus.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Dean exclaimed loudly, causing Hermione to wince as he practically shouted in her ear.

"That," Hermione explained "was Devils Snare. A plant that hates light and warmth. It grows to encompass everything it can touch if not properly cared for. It must have been another protection for the stone."

"That's right. But now that we're past that we should keep moving forward. We can't go back the way we came anyways." Ignotus said, immediately trying to take charge. The group was now in a large cavernous looking room. The stone brick walls gave way to slick rock walls and the floor was uneven and damp with rocks littered randomly around them. There were four separate tunnels branching out in what Harry assumed to be the four cardinal directions, North, South, East, and West. Each tunnel looked exactly the same, large round and dark with stalactites hanging from the top of the rounded ceiling that the tunnels bore.

"And which tunnel exactly do you expect us to go through _oh illustrious leader_?" Blaise questioned mockingly.

"Shut up snake!" Seamus snapped, defending his friend.

"If anyone should be told to shut up it's you Gryffindork. I think there might be a few Hippogriffs in the Forbidden Forest who _didn't_ hear you screaming like a bloody pansy." Blaise retorted waspishly.

"Bugger off Zabini!" Seamus and Dean glared furiously at the dark skinned Slytherin and fingered their wands as the three preteen wizards started slinging insults towards each other.

" _Can't you control your friends?_ " Harry signed at his twin brother who just shrugged in response before slapping Dean's shoulder.

"Come on you guys. We need to work together here." Ignotus attempted to persuade his friends.

"We don't need some slimy snake telling us what to do!" Seamus whined loudly.

"Well if you rat-brained pussycats used your heads instead of screaming them off then maybe we wouldn't have to tell you what to do!" Blaise shouted back.

"Well maybe we oughta-AAA!" All three boys shouted in surprise as they were flung to the floor by an invisible force.

" _That's enough bickering. Follow me._ " Harry signed to no one in particular with an annoyed look on his face.

"He um, I think Harry knows what way to go." Hermione said timidly before following her long haired Slytherin friend. Harry did not know which way to go, but by using his mage-vision as he started calling it in his mind; Harry could see that one of the tunnels had significantly less magic than the others so was likely safer or perhaps less warded then the others.

XxX

After wandering through the caves for what felt like many hours, yet according to Blaise's watch was less than ten minutes, and arguing with the Gryffindors constantly about not taking certain paths along the way, the party came upon a set of massive dark wooden doors. The doors gleamed in the torchlight that was supplied on either side of them however there was a simple length of parchment nailed to the wall underneath each of the torches. Hermione rushed forward and grabbed the left one while Seamus dashed to snatch the right one.

"Go no further, if fame and riches are what you desire. An army of virtue stands to defend the pure fire, which an army of darkness seeks to drag down into the mire. Force of will shall win the day, but beware the power of the Fae..." Hermione carefully read the parchment aloud to the rest of the party.

"What is that supposed to mean Iggy?" Dean questioned.

"Who cares about some stupid poetry. How are we supposed to open such a huge door? They look large enough to let a Dragon through!" Ignotus replied haughtily. Harry and Blaise circled around Hermione and started reading the poem over again to themselves.

"What do you think Harry?" Blaise asked while the three Gryfindor boys started pushing on the massive dark wooden doors.

" _I think it's some sort of warning. Telling us to act as though Dumbledore is watching us. I don't know what the power of the Fae is though._ " Harry signed in response.

"Fae is a term used for the Fairy race. Though they're supposed to just be a legend." Hermione said, earning a grin from Blaise.

"Well no one can actually agree if the Fae actually existed, but if they did it was before wandlore came into power." The dark Slytherin explained calmly, smirking at the sight of the three Gryffindor boys grunting as they attempted to force open the doors. "Supposedly the Fae had a power to bewitch those they defeated, and turn them into their slaves. So we might have to deal with some sort of mind magic..."

"I don't think we can handle anything that advanced." Hermione said worriedly. "This is already more dangerous than we thought it would be."

" _I think we'll be fine. It says force of will shall win the day._ " Harry replied silently. " _Those three might have more trouble though._ " Harry nodded his head in the direction of the grunting Gryffindors, eliciting laughter from Blaise and Hermione. Blaise then pulled the closest torch off the wall and confidently sauntered to a spot directly in the middle of the doors yet several feet away

"Oy, Gryffindorks! Move out of the way." Blaise called out as he wound his arm back and threw the flaming torch at the massive wooden doors. The moment the fire touched the doors every inch of the wood burst into flames just as the 3 Gryffindor boys jumped away from the hurled fire. The now massive flame was blinding, forcing all 5 students to cover their eyes; but within half a second the fire was gone along with the doors leaving only an open archway before them.

"Bloody hell! You could have killed us!" Ignotus Potter shouted angrily.

"Ya!" Dean and Seamus shouted in unison.

"Honestly, boys!" Hermione rolled her eyes and slowly signed at Harry. " _Your brother might be able to actually help but those other two do nothing but scream and whine. They're going to get themselves hurt._ "

" _Maybe, but if they can't handle this they should not have come._ " Harry replied with a smile at his friends efforts to learn how to communicate like him. " _I'm starting to think that none of us are ready for this though._ "

" _What do you mean? We've been able to handle it alright so far haven't we?_ " Hermione questioned silently.

" _Barely. If it wasn't for my wandless magic we would probably have been killed by those vines under the trapdoor. Or we could have gotten lost in those tunnels on the way here, starved or run into some sort of trap. These protections are too advanced for us if we try to complete them in a straightforward manner._ " At this time Blaise was still arguing with the Gryffindor boys about cowardly dunderheaded lions and slimy backstabbing snakes. " _Tell those 4 to follow me will you Hermione?_ " Harry signed while nodding to the arguing boys a few feet away.

"Of course." Hermione said with a small smile. Harry turned and walked through the now open archway.

XxX

Harry Potter walked into a grand looking room with massive ebony pillars along the edges and a sparkling floor made with squares of Ebony and Marble in sequence with each other. In the centre of the room stood a large group of statues made from snow-white quartz standing in a row and facing away from the open archway behind the mute wizard. The statues were each about 12 feet tall and made up of various figures. Harry approached the statues while ignoring the bickering between his party and his twins party until he was standing in front of an enormous quartz stallion gleaming mesmerizingly in the low light of the room. Harry pushed a bit of magic to his eyes, activating his mage sight and causing them to glow ever so slightly and saw that the statue glowed as though it was filled to the brim with magic just waiting to get out. It was a beautiful sight, pulsing softly with a warm green and red light, Harry could almost feel warmth emanating from the magic despite its could quartz shell. Before Harry realized what was happening, his hand was firmly pressed against the stallion and the pulsing green and red light flashed harshly, causing Harry to stumble back and cover his eyes from the suddenly blinding light; had Harry not been mute his cry of pain would have alerted the rest of the party but instead they all fell silent as the large snow-white statues suddenly moved with loud grinding and stomping sounds. Harry looked up in awe as the stallion he had touched moments ago burst into life and started stomping its hooves in an impressive display of power.

"Harry!" Blaise shouted at his best friend while running towards him. Blaise grabbed the mute wizards robes and started dragging him away from the massive stomping Stallion, panting slightly from both the exertion and the adrenaline. "Wh-what's going on?"

"I- I think this is the next protection… D-do we have to destroy those?" Hermione stuttered with wide eyes, fear prevalent on her face.

Harry shook his head as Blaise helped him to his feet. " _No, they are our army._ "

"Oy! What are you guys going on about with that hand waving?" Dean shouted angrily. "You think you can just leave us out of this? If it wasn't for us none of you would even be here!" Seamus stomped ahead of Dean and Iggy and roughly shoved Harry out of his way as he approached the stomping quartz statues.

"Obviously these are chess pieces. We just need to win a game of chess." Seamus said haughtily, crossing his arms over his chest. Ignotus and Dean rushed forward as well, though did not collide with any of Harry's party. Ignotus immediately started calling out chess moves, demanding that the pawns move forward but none of the statues would move.

"Why aren't they doing anything? We can't have to push them, we'd get squashed like some sort of bug!" Ignotus cried out childishly.

"I think Harry has to be the one. He started it after all." Blaise said with a sneer towards the Gryffindor boys.

"I don't think so..." Hermione stated quietly.

"What do you mean?" Blaise asked

"Well, there's an open space beside the Queen. I think that whoever will be in command needs to actually play as the King."

"That makes sense Granger. I guess I'll just do that myself then." Ignotus said in a condescending tone.

Ignotus quickly took the open White King spot, causing the massive statues to stop stomping and focus their attention forward. The-Boy-Who-Lived then found himself being raised up as his platform turned into a small pillar for him to observe the board from and he was confronted by the Black Army. The White Army was carved in the image of handsome and noble wizards and witches, armed with straight slender blades and clothed in flowing robes, they had proud bright towers for rooks, and a truly beautiful and joyful looking queen. The Black Army however had been carved in a terrifying visage. Their Pawns carried brutal looking jagged blades with cruel smiles and glowing eyes that promised nothing but pain and humiliation. Their soldiers wore patchwork armour, complete with cruel jagged metal spikes jutting out at random points and monstrous looking fanged skulls for shoulder guards and helmets. Their rooks were crumbling towers that gave off an aura similar to that of Azkaban, not that the children realized this. Lastly the Black knights were massive thestrals with their wings flared up behind them in an eerie manner. All in all the Black Army looked like a group of demons eagerly waiting for a slaughter. Ignotus then ordered one of his pawns to move forward in an unsteady voice, leaving an opening for both his Queen and one of his Bishops to move out. One of the Black Knights moved forward in response and the game was on…

XxX

Twenty-five minutes into the gigantic chess match and Ignotus was clearly struggling. Much to his despair the Black Army was not just destroying his pieces, but converting them. Every piece he lost was a new soldier for the growing Black Army and strategic sacrifices would only see his opponent become even more unbeatable. The only exception appeared to be the Black Pawns, as they thankfully would only destroy his chess piece. Ignotus had lost five of his eight Pawns, one of his Knights, and both of his Bishops; two of those Pawns and both of the Bishops had been converted by the "power of the Fae" and promptly turned against the White Army without remorse. The converted pieces still retained their original features but had dulled to a lifeless drab grey instead of their original shiny white splendor.

"I think we're missing something." Blaise whispered to Harry and Hermione. "If all we had to do was win a chess match then why leave that riddle outside the door?"

"Well it did give us the clue we needed to open the doors. You think that there is more to it?" Hermione replied softly so as not to draw the attention of the two Gryffindor boys. Harry looked at Blaise contemplatively but did not add any input.

"I do. I mean, what are the chances that anyone could win a chess game like this? Every single standard strategy is useless before the Black Army's power to convert defeated pieces." Blaise pulled the parchment with the riddle from his robes and started reading it over again with Hermione. "What do you think Harry?" Blaise questioned after a few moments.

" _I'm not sure… Something about it seems familiar but I'm not sure why._ " Harry signed with a slight frown on his face.

"Here," Blaise smoothly thrust the parchment at Harry "what part is familiar?" Harry took the parchment from Blaise and read it over several more times, his fingers tracing where he was in the riddle. After three minutes Harry's eyes narrowed and he started focusing on a single part of what was ridden, then started pacing furiously back and forth between his friends and the wall. "What is it Harry?" Blaise asked when Harry neared him and Hermione again.

" _I think it has to do with 'force of will'. It's supposed to win the day but we haven't used it yet._ " Harry signed rapidly enough that Blaise was barely able to keep up, although Hermione was fluent enough to keep up far more easily.

"I thought 'force of will' meant testing your mind in the chess match." Hermione said slowly, though realizing that she only assumed that because she could not think of any other answer.

"Honestly I was thinking the same as Harry, I just don't see how force of will is going to help in a chess match. It's not like its a spell we have to resist or something." Harry suddenly stopped pacing and turned to look at Blaise for his remark. "Wh- Did you figure something out Harry?"

" _A spell… that's it!_ " Harry's eyes lit up with excitement as he ran to twin brother and pulled a muggle pen from his robes pocket. Harry slammed the parchment down on the ground as he slid to his knees just behind the large pillar that Ignotus was commanding the White Army from and started scribbling on the back. By the time Blaise and Hermione caught up to Harry, Dean and Seamus had noticed that they were up to something and ran over just in time to watch Harry levitate the parchment up to his brother on top of the pillar.

"Are you guys serious?" Ignotus called out from above, his voice slightly echoey.

" _Tell him to do it! As quickly as he can!_ " Harry signed frantically to Hermione who then shouted back up to Ignotus.

"Harry says to do it as fast as you can!"

"But that's crazy! How is this supposed to win the game?" Ignotus shouted back.

" _It's not about winning the game, the game is a trap to force you to think a certain way. He needs to create that pattern on the board, it's like a combination lock and once we put in the right combination the lock opens and we pass the test!_ " Harry signed while Blaise reluctantly interpreted for the Dean and Seamus in order to keep them quiet.

"Harry says that the test isn't about winning the game! You need to put in the right code in order to beat it!" Hermione shouted at the top of her small lungs, barely reaching Ignotus on top of his pillar.

"You guys better be right, I don't know if we'll be allowed to try again!"

"So what is this combination Harry? You just ran off without saying anything." Hermione rounded on Harry and started poking him in the chest as she spoke.

" _I don't know how you expected me to say anything Hermione. I do have a slight speech impediment you know._ " Harry signed while smirking at his bushy haired friend.

"Oh you!" Hermione smacked Harry against his chest in exasperation. "You know what I mean, now explain to me what you figured out." Hermione pouted slightly at the end causing Blaise to blush slightly while Harry's body shook slightly from his silent laughter.

" _Okay, okay. Force of will is something needed for spells. Wands needed a way to convert that force of will or willpower into magical intent for a spell so wandcrafters inscribe a tiny rune at important parts of the wand and that rune is typically just referred to as 'force of will' rather than the extremely long and difficult to pronounce latin term for the rune._ "

"What does that have to do with chess?" Dean asked as Blaise was still translating for him and Seamus.

"It's not about chess," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. "The chess board is used to trick people into thinking that they need to win the game in order to proceed but the Black Army has special powers that make it impossible to win. Instead we just have to put the pieces in a certain order like a secret code, or the password to our common room." Dean and Seamus were quiet after that, though it could be due to the fact that their throats were quite hoarse from shouting encouragement to their friend the entire match. A couple minutes later and the two armies split apart and the two queens lifted an extremely large stone slab that had been easily disguised as part of the wall, revealing the way forward.

The pillar that Ignotus had been commanding his Chess Army from quickly descended, allowing him to join the rest of the party before they proceeded through the new pathway. The next room was at the end of a long well lit corridor that was at odds with the rest of the area protecting the stone. Once they reached the end of the hall Ignotus opened the door, took a single step inside, then fell to his knees while clutching his scar.

"Iggy!" Dean and Seamus cried out wildly as they suddenly charged forward to check on their friend. Harry held Hermione back when she started to move forward as well and shook his head at her

" _Something is wrong, both of you wait here and observe._ " Harry signed before carefully creeping forward. Dean and Seamus were helping Ignotus to his feet and Harry saw that his twins scar had become inflamed as he got closer but his focus was on the extremely large mirror in the centre of the circular room, and the wizard standing in front of it with his back turned to them. When the man turned there were several gasps of surprise at just who had beaten them to the Philosopher's Stone.

"Ah, the Potter twins," Professor Quirrel spoke softly and without his infuriating stutter before pausing for half a moment upon observing Dean and Thomas; "and company..." Quirrel spoke as though Dean and Thomas were unwelcome visitors that he was forced to put up with. "I must say, I am quite surprised that you made it here. While the protections were simple enough for a wizard of my caliber I would not have thought a group of first years would be so capable. Perhaps there is something to your legend after all Mr. Potter." The turbaned wizard stared solely at Ignotus as he spoke, all but ignoring the rest of the party.

"We won't let you steal the stone!" Dean cried out suddenly before pulling his wand out of his pocket. Before Dean could even point his wand at Quirrell he was engulfed in a bright purple light that sent him flying back several feet with his chest unnaturally caved in and blood started leaking from his mouth as he coughed once then fell unconscious.

"Dean!" Ignotus shouted out as he and Seamus both raised their wands as well. Quirrell flicked his own wand towards the boys, a blue orb shot forward and Seamus was suddenly screaming in pain as both his legs instantly bent back the wrong way, destroying his kneecaps. Then Ignotus was wrapped in a thick yellow rope that started cutting off circulation to his limbs and slightly choked him so that he could not draw a full breath. Harry thrust his left palm forward in response and Quirrell skidded back several feet, and before the Professor could properly respond he saw a stream of purple lightning rushing towards him. Quirrell waved his wand silently again and a misty grey barrier surrounded him, dispersing the lightning upon contact.

"Well that is interesting. I wonder, which of you is the more remarkable Potter twin?" The professor mused softly, as though speaking to himself rather than to either of the Potter boys. "Let us see shall we?" Ignotus suddenly found himself freed from the ever tightening yellow rope and his wand was flying back into his hands. Ignotus and Harry glanced at each other, then stared at Quirrell who simply stood casually in front of them as though he no not a care in the world.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Ignotus roared suddenly, flashily brandishing his wand in front of him. A blue light flew from his wand and right past Quirrell's head who did not move an inch. "INCENDIO! EXPELLIARMUS! TARANTELLA!" Ignotus was screaming incantations and firing spells at an impressive rate for a first year student, or even a second year student; but the power and speed behind the spells were easily bested by a fully grown wizard. Seeing this Harry jumped in as well, shooting small bursts of lightning from different angles to no avail as they were easily blocked. Harry circled around so that Professor Quirrell had to turn his head in order to keep an eye on both twins and then waved wildly at Ignotus for a quick second to gain his attention before waving his hand and twisting his fingers into sign language.

" _Use as big a fire as you can. So that he can't see past it. Wait for the signal_ " Ignotus nodded quickly and jumped to the side as Quirrell started firing spells back, having started to grow bored. Harry attempted to wandlessly push Quirrell as he thrust an open palm forward but only succeeded in making the Defence Professor stumble. Quirrell shot a red spell at Harry in retaliation that sent him flying head over heels through the air several feet when it impacted against his shoulder. Ignotus was then turned into a human pincushion when three arrows found themselves driven into his legs, just as a dull red spell was about to smash into Ignotus's face Harry used his magic to pull his twin towards himself and out of the path of the spell. Harry then tapped Ignotus four times on the small of his back and poured as much lightning through his fingertips as he could; enough to make his fingers slightly numb. Quirrell summoned the same misty grey shield as he had the first time and smirked as the lightning fizzled out before reaching him. Then with a bellowed incantation a massive gout of fire engulfed the turban wearing wizard who's eyes widened in surprise for just a moment before nothing could be seen through the flames. Ignotus was holding his wand in front of him with both hands as red flames poured from its tip, shaking from the exertion of using so much magic at once. Harry then smiled at his brother and dashed forward, forcing his magic to saturate his body which allowed him to move at a far greater speed then he should have been capable of. With a shout of surprise Ignotus dropped his overpowered fire charm just in time to stop Harry from being burned as he appeared in front of Quirrell with his fist drawn back. Before Quirrell could react Harry had driven his small fist into the older wizards stomach, causing him to double over and cry out in pain as he was knocked back several feet.

"Y-you filthy little brat. Fighting like some dirty Muggle!" Quirrell spat at Harry who smirked in response before running forward. This time Quirrell was prepared and fired a blue orb at Harry who was expecting the reaction and leapt over it, soaring through the air and more or less landing on top of Quirrell and becoming an ungraceful tangle of limbs and robes. Quirrell was screaming in pain and flailing wildly in a desperate attempt to separate himself from Harry, within seconds they were seperated despite Harry punching and kicking anything he could reach while using magic to enhance his body as much as he could. The technique was more effective at increasing his speed then his strength so he did not expect to do much damage but he was desperate after seeing how easily Ignotus and his friends had been beaten. By the time Quirrell had managed to disengage from Harry and gain some distance Harry noticed that he was sporting several burn marks scattered on his body.

"Let me ssee the boys." A raspy hissing voice rang out from somewhere that Harry could not discern.

"But Master, you are still weakened."

"Silence! I am sstrong enough for thisss." The hissing voice rasped out again. Harry still could not see where the speaker was but he noticed that Hermione and Blaise had pulled the Gryffindors away and were trying futilely to treat them; mostly just covering their wounds and applying pressure to slow the bleeding. Seamus had long ago passed out from the pain of having both his legs broken and Dean was still unresponsive. Blaise had pulled the arrows from Ignotus's legs who was now struggling to stand despite obviously being in copious amounts of pain. Harry's attention was drawn away from his brother and friends however when Quirrell started to unfurl his turban. When the last bit of cloth forming the turban had fallen to the ground Quirrell turned his back to the first years, revealing a deformed face that had patches of scales spotting it, and appeared to be dusty as though it was made from crumbling stone that was threatening to fall apart at any second. "Potter…" The face spoke, emphasizing the P in Potter. "Such a shame that we have ended on opposite sidess. But that does not have to be the case." The strange face spoke slowly, as though each and every word took a conscious effort. Harry was silent, unable to voice his questions but thankfully Ignotus had found his voice again.

"You just tried to kill my friends. Why would we want to join some ghost living on someone else's head?"

"Ah, I have done far more than that Potter… I killed your parents, but death is just another obstacle to a wizard such asss myself."

"Wh- what did you say?" Ignotus stuttered with wide eyes, Harry's face was frozen similarly to Ignotus.

"I am Lord Voldemort! I have conquered countless foes, death was just another foe that fell at my feet. I am immortal!" Voldemort rasped injtimidatingly as his magic started to flare, wrapping the party of first years in a suffocating aura that promised pain and death. "Jusst as I have conquered death, I can bring your parents back to you. A trifling gift for one loyal to Lord Voldemort." Harry was conflicted, the chance to finally see his parents and have the life he wished for was almost too much for him, Ignotus however had no such issue.

"I don't think they would want to come back if they would be even half as ugly as you!" The-Boy-Who-Lived shouted at Lord Voldemort.

"A shame. Perhapss a demonstration of my power is in order..." Lord Voldemort rasped carefully, each word appearing to still cause more exertion then it should have. Harry could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, this Dark Lord was not human, he was something more; perhaps something far worse. Lord Voldemort had the aura of a monster completely uninterested in its own lack of humanity, a feeling that was reinforced as Quirrells bodys started shifting and bending unnaturally. His arms flew back and twisted in their shoulder sockets, popping and cracking as they twisted grotesquely to face towards the back and become the arms and hands of Lord Voldemort rather than Professor Quirrell. His ankles snapped and crackled somehow as they turned around to provide Lord Voldemort better balance but his knees stayed in place. Harry, Ignotus, Hermione, and Blaise were each terrified by what they were watching. Hermione emptied the contents of her stomach rather violently before Velodemort had even finished his grotesque transformation. Quirrell had been screaming during the entire thing and was now sobbing softly, only to increase in volume as Voldemort waved his wand and Hermione's chest split open in a massive burst of blood. Lazily waving his wand back the other way Lord Voldemort set Blaise up in the air where his limbs were suddenly pulled in separate directions, attempting to slowly tear his limbs from their sockets causing him to scream in horrifying pain. "Join me and I shall let them live Potterss."

Harry's face twisted into a furious snarl as he forced as much control over as much magic as his 11 year old body could handle. Lightning crackled around Harry's body, crackling and popping with power, then without warning his hands shot forward and vivid purple lightning knocked into Voldemort like a cannonball; firing the monstrous Dark Lord into the large mirror with a resounding crash. Harry continued pouring lightning over the unresponsive form of the Dark Lord for thirty seconds before gripping him with wandless magic and picking him up, only to slam him back down into the ground. Harry repeated this dozens of times, not even stopping when blood spatter started spraying him in copious amounts of the coppery liquid. Ignotus simply stared with wide eyes, unable to reconcile the loving and protective brother he had grown up beside in the Dursleys and the Orphanage afterwards with the wrathful avenger silently screaming in front of him. Ignotus was frozen in place even as Harry ran back and practically collapsed beside Hermione, tearing off his robes and trying to slow her bleeding wishing all the while that he had learned how to heal injuries rather than just destroy anyone who might try to injure him. Blaise had fallen to the ground at some point during Harry's furious assault and was rolling onto his back and whimpering softly.

"H-Harry." Ignotus choked out, Harry ignored him in favor of staring at Hermione and pleading to Merlin that she didn't die. "Har-Harry!" Ignotus said again, the panic obvious in his voice ignored by his distraught twin brother. "HARRY!" Ignotus shouted at the top of his lungs. Harry finally turned to Ignotus only to see him pointing. Following his brothers finger Harry saw the crumpled form of Lord Voldemort propping itself back up on his feet, on its feet. The monster before them could no longer be called a man. The monster loosed a laugh that turned into a maniacal coughing fit as he staggered forward several steps.

"I am Lord Voldemort. Bow before me!" Voldemort didn't shout but his voice reverberated through the room as powerfully as though he was screaming. Ignotus' knees shook but he remained standing, although it was more because he was frozen in place than anything else. Harry barely moved, he was exhausted and in a fair amount of pain from commanding such a massive and violent magical assault just moments before. "Conssider this your final chance Potterss." Lord Voldemort hissed, his voice sounding somehow less strained after Harry's onslaught. "Join me, join me and I shall heal your friends, I shall return your family to you, and we shall conquer this pathetic world together and create one where magic does not have to hide. I will teach you the secrets of magic that no one else has dared to unravel. All you need to do is retrieve the stone from this mirror for me"

"G-go to hell." Ignotus said weakly. "We'll never help you."

"Hmm, and do you feel that way as well, Harry?" Voldemort's head twisted strangely towards Harry like an owl, his body still facing Ignotus. "I could give you the ability to speak. You would never have to frustrate yourself attempting to do something that everyone else takes for granted."

Harry's mind was racing, as much as he wanted to tell the monster who murdered his family and ruined his life to sod off he was all too aware of the fact that Hermione was lying on the ground bleeding to death. He had thrown everything he had at the monster and barely left a scratch. None of his magic was useful here and without his magic there wasn't much he could do. Harry silently stood up and staggered over to the large mirror that was somehow untouched despite the chaos that had just occurred.

"Harry?" Ignotus gasped softly as his twin brother started walking towards The Dark Lord. "Wha-what are you doing? Stay away from him Harry! Stay away!" Ignotus shouted desperately and tried to wave his brother away.

"Ah, it is good to see that one of you can see reason. I suppose it is only to be expected of one from my own house." The monster inhabiting Quirrell's body chuckled. "Now take the stone from the mirror and I will use it to save your friends and regain my own body. Then I shall return your parents to you. I will make you a wizard so powerful that even my most hardened Death Eaters shall tremble at your name." Once Harry had approached the mirror The Dark Lord stood directly behind him, carefully observing the reflection as though hoping for some clue as to how the protection worked. Harry reached out, watching in amazement as his hand sunk right into the reflective surface. Then the mute wizard pulled a closed fist out of the mirror and turned to face The Dark Lord. "Yes, yes. Give it to me now Potter. Give me the stone!"

Without warning Harry shot forward, colliding with the monster and sending him crashing to the ground. Using what little magic he had left Harry pulled Ignotus towards him and wrapped one hand around the now shrieking monsters throat while using the other to frantically sign, " _Touching us hurts him._ " and then using both hands to strangle The Dark Lord who retaliated by trying to smack Harry away with his bare hands. Ignotus grabbed The Dark Lords flailing arms and held them so that he could not continue his attack against Harry, and when his strength started to give out he started biting The Dark Lord. The Potter Twins desperately attempted to subdue the monster they had encountered but before they realized what had happened they both fell to the ground as their injuries and magical exhaustion won out over their own flagging stamina and everything faded to black…

 _ **AN: Damn, well this took awhile but it is a whole 16 pages and by far my longest chapter to date. Hopefully you all enjoyed my version of the obstacles. These were not designed with a group of 11 year old children in mind and quite frankly the party would never had made it through without Harry's special abilities. On the other hand, I tried to show that despite his power Harry is very limited in what he can do due to his lack of wand magic and how his wandless magic does not have a whole ton of variety. Next chapter will wrap up the year and start off the summer, so the 2nd year is on it's way. Sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger. Message me or leave reviews and tell me if you think Hermione was killed or not. I've already decided whether she will live or not but I am curious as to what you all think happened to her.**_


	11. Scars

**Chapter 11: Scars**

It was not with a sudden jolt that Harry Potter woke but rather a feeling of being pulled up from deep underwater. Upon regaining consciousness Harry found that he was in no small amount of pain as his limbs and more specifically his hands were virtually screaming in pain. The mute boy forced himself to sit up from the stiff bed he woke up on, ignoring how his arms shook in protest. Suddenly Madam Pomfrey came bustling in wearing a nightgown and her hair pulled up into a quick and messy bun.

"Mr. Potter! Lay back down right now! You are going to hurt yourself even further." The school Nurse gently pushed Harry back down and the young wizard found himself too weak to resist her gentle touch. Harry looked around him for his cue cards and quickly spotted his bloody school robes folded in a corner; without considering the consequences immediately attempted to pull the garment towards him. Harry's face screwed up in pain as he gasped silently and quickly cradled the hand he had used in his attempted pulling. "Wh- That is quite enough Mr. Potter! If you try anything like that again I will have your head of house force a sleeping draught down your throat until you are fully healed."

"Harry?" Blaise limped into Harry's view with a concerned look in his eyes.

"My. Zabini! Back to your bed this instant! You are not supposed to be walking yet." The school Nurse admonished the young Slytherin.

"Hermione is fine Harry. She's just in a different room from us. Your brother already left yesterday too." Blaise explained calmly to his best friend, understanding why the mute boy was so worked up. Harry immediately calmed down and allowed himself to lay back in his bed while the nurse ushered Blaise back into his own.

"Back to bed the both of you! There will be plenty of time for talking during the day tomorrow." Pomfrey stated as she waved her wand and both boys found their small stiff begs encircled by a set of tall curtains, rechecked her wards and then returned to her own quarters through a small wooden door at the end of the infirmary. .

XxX

Three more days passed before Harry was able to move his limbs and fingers without being in excruciating pain. This did not mean he was fully healed, in fact Harry still found it painful to stand or walk; and signing was reserved for when he absolutely had to get a point across. He still found himself unable to hold a quill or pen strongly enough to write so Harry spent much of his recovery reading what books were brought to him, surprisingly by Susan Bones of all people. While Harry wasn't able to communicate with the young redheaded Hufflepuff he found that she had quite enough to say for the both of them. Somehow Susan had learned that Harry was responsible for Malfoys apology earlier in the year and was intent on making it up to Harry. She was constantly bringing Harry new books to keep him occupied, and not just textbooks but wizarding fiction novels as well. Harry had a wonderful, though completely silent laugh at some of the books written about his twin brothers adventures taming Dragons and slaying Nundus as though he was Merlin on magical steroids. Even though Harry was still worried about Hermione he was glad to have made another new friend. By the fifth day Harry finally started to feel the pain in his extremities fading away to be replaced by a strange but relieving half numbness. It was on that night Harry chose to roll out of bed, knowing that Madam Pomfrey would emerge from her office within seconds.

"Mr Potter, how many times must I tell you to stay in bed?" The nurse spoke sternly and with a small amount of irritation at having her personal time infringed upon in such a manner. She took Harry by the arm and started guiding him back to his bed, and once he was sitting again Harry passed her a small note. "What is this Mr Potter?" Madam Pomfrey read the note once, then twice, then a third time before carefully observing her young patient. "And why exactly, do you want to learn healing magic Mr. Potter?" Having foreseen this question Harry passed the nurse another note.

" _Friends were hurt. Couldn't help them. Can only fight._ "

"Ah. I see..." Madam Pomfrey whispered softly, her eyes softening at the obviously heartfelt request from the mute, watery eyed boy before her. "Well, I think that I can give you some reading material but healing magic is quite advanced. I would be surprised to see even a fifth year student make any progress in this field." Harry stared resolutely until Madam Pomfrey gave a soft sigh and shuffled off to her office only to return with a book titled " _Healing Magic and You: How Your Magic Can Heal Others!"_ with a small smile. "Why don't you read that over the summer? If you write me I can answer any questions you might have." Harry gently took the book and layed back in bed, immediately opening it to the first page and starting to read.

It wasn't until just after dinner that Harry received any other visitors, however this one came in the form of one Albus Dumbledore, Illustrious Headmaster, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, and Order of Merlin Holder along with a few other, less impressive titles. "Mr Potter. It is good to see that you are healing well. I wanted to speak to you about your little adventure with your brother." Dumbledore spoke in a kind grandfatherly tone as his eyes twinkled. "I have for you here a little bit of a..." Dumbledore trailing off for a moment as he stroked his beard, "a bit of a summer project you could say. After speaking with your brother and reviewing his memory of your adventure the other night I am quite worried about you Mr. Potter." Dumbledore waved his wand and conjured a plush armchair with far too much stuffing and sat down on it. "You have had several incidents with accidental magic throughout the year, with this final one injuring you quite severely." Dumbledore said gravely. "While such outbursts are to be expected from younger untrained witches and wizards, the same can not be said for someone your age. I have for you here a book that I recommend that you study." The Headmaster pulled out a small bright yellow book titled " _A child's guide to being brilliant and appropriate"_ and handed it to a confused Harry Potter. "Obviously you now know the dangers of such uncontrolled magic firsthand but I must warn you Mr. Potter. Should you continue in your outbursts of accidental magic then I will be forced to have a healer from St. Mungo's come and place a bind on your magic until you are able to properly control yourself." Harry's eyes hardened as he scowled and glared at the Headmaster. "I understand that your magical outbursts have been beneficial to you in the past but surely you can see what potential damage could be done. Not just to yourself but to those around you." Dumbledore stood and patted Harry softly on his shoulder before saying, "Now be sure to study this book carefully this summer my boy and hopefully we will see a much less exciting year when you return in September." With his piece spoken the aged Headmaster slowly pushed himself to his feet and waved his wand, vanishing the armchair he had just vacated and walked out of the room stroking his beard.

XxX

Harry was finally released from the tender mercies of Madam Pomfrey on the day the students returned to their respective homes for the summer. Hermione had been released just a day prior to Harry and the two friends found themselves escorted to the leaving feast by Blaise Zabini and Susan Bones.

"I can't believe that Gryffindor won the house cup this year." Susan mentioned absently as the party passed the four hourglasses containing hundreds of little colored gems that measured each house's points.

"Of course they did, Dumbledore can't let his precious golden boy lose now can he?." Blaise said bitterly.

"The points didn't even make sense. I mean 100 points for 'undertaking a grand adventure' or '10 points for outstanding bravery'? What does that even mean?" Susan huffed irritatedly. "It's like Dumbledore just wanted Gryfindor to win the cup."

"Well we all got the points for it, Blaise and Harry too..." Hermione said softly, not wanting to speak poorly of an authority figure.

"Well he didn't have to make it 100 bloody points. Then he threw Longbottom those 10 random points just to put Gryffindor over the top." Blaise spat out, anger evident in his voice.

" _Chill out Blaise._ " Harry signed after softly pushing his elbow into the darker boys side. " _Who cares about the house cup anyway? All it does is change the banners in the Great Hall. It's not like you can apply for a job and say that you won the cup every year so they should hire you. It's a pointless way to make us feel punished or rewarded for ultimately insignificant things._ "

"H-house points are not insignificant Harry!" Hermione said loudly.

" _Then tell me one way that house points or the house cup have any actual impact on our education or future job possibilities? Are you going to tell the Ministry that you are the best fit for them because you earned 300 points while in school for answering questions correctly?_ " Harry raised a single eyebrow at his Gryffindor friend and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Well there's… I mean, I-" Hermione sputtered for several seconds before crossing her arms in a huff and pointedly staring at the wall away from Harry causing the rest of the group to snicker at her.

"I guess you have a point Harry" Blaise said introspectively, looking much less unhappy then he had a few moments prior. "So what are you all doing for the summer? My mother is taking my sister and I to Italy for the summer."

"My parents and I are going to visit Paris this year. I wonder if we will be able to find their version of Diagon Alley?" Hermione said with a bright smile.

"It's easy, I'll owl you some directions before you go." Blaise replied.

"I'll probably spend some time with the Abbots, if I'm lucky then Aunty will be able to take some time off and we might be able to go on a short trip somewhere." Susan said with a shy smile. "What about you Harry?"

" _I'm going to study, see if I can do anything new with my wandless magic. Maybe visit Diagon Alley a few times._ " Harry signed, making the hand gestures more slowly as Hermione translated for Susan Bones. Hermione had lent Susan her copy of the ASL book she used to learn how to communicate with Harry but it would likely take the summer for her to gain any proficiency in the obscure muggle language.

"When are you going to Diagon Alley Harry? I could meet you there sometime I'm sure." Hermione said excitedly.

" _I'm not sure. I bet we could all meet up at least once over the summer though._ " Harry signed in response.

"Oooh that would be fun!" Susan squeaked happily. "Could I bring Hannah?" Harry smiled and nodded affirmatively at his newest friend while Hermione frowned slightly. She had tried to confront Harry about the multitude of scars covering his body but had been unable to get him alone ever since she first saw them. She knew that Harry was avoiding that exact situation but didn't know what to do. She couldn't ask anyone for help either as she knew that telling anyone why she needed help would be a betrayal of her first friends trust. Hermione continued to ponder this as the small group of first years made their way to the Hogwarts Express and its long train ride home.

XxX

Harry Potter stared determinedly at the orphanage that he was meant to remain for the summer, turned around, and raised his wand in front of him while standing beside the street. A few seconds later a large purple triple decker bus zoomed into view with several loud bangs.

"Good afernoon ta you sir. Where are ya headed?" Asked a scruffy middle-aged wizard in a raspy voice and faded green robes. Harry wordlessly handed the wizard a scrap of parchment with the words 'Diagon Alley please' carefully written on it. "Right, Die-gon Alley it is. Go find yerself a seat now." The wizard gently shooed Harry towards the back of the bus then turned and pounded on the window separating the driver from the passengers. "Ya hear im Richy? We're edded to Die-gon Alley!" Harry quickly jumped on a bed at the back of the bus, ignoring the several other passengers, two of whom were sleeping. Just as Harry propped himself on one of the beds the oversized bus lurched forward, causing his bed to slide forward until it stopped barely an inch from the next bed. 15 stomach twisting minutes later Harry stumbled out of the Knight Bus and propped himself up against the wall as he waited for the world to stop spinning and his stomach to settle down and then quickly made his way towards Gringotts. The Goblin run bank was quite impressive, even more so at an age when one is so small in stature, making the looming marble pillars and massive stone statues even more imposing. The feeling of power and wealth imprinting itself on the mind of every young susceptible witch and wizard who entered. Harry promptly got in line, gave his goblin teller his vault key, and soundlessly laughed as he rode the cart down the intricate system of tunnels. Harry could swear that they took a different route down the first time he went but who could really tell at those speeds? Upon entering his vault Harry quickly packed a significant amount of gold into a small green enchanted money bag that had been a gift from his friend Blaise Zabini, the money bag was enchanted to only allow the wearer to remove or open it along with a modest expansion charm so that the small inconspicuous pouch could carry a large amount of gold and silver coins.

With his business at Gringotts completed Harry made his way to the leaky cauldron, ordered a room and paid for a week upfront and plopped down on his bed with the healing text that Madam Pomfrey had lent him.

XxX

It took a week before Harry started getting strange looks from Tom, the friendly barkeep/innkeeper and Harry knew he needed to move on before Tom started asking questions about his parents and got him sent back to that orphanage. So after breakfast that morning Harry returned to his room and started packing. The past week had been spent poring over the medical textbook that the school nurse had lent him and tonight he would be ready for his first medical trial. He would start small, just healing a small cut on his fingertip but it was a stepping stone to greater things and would prove that he had the ability to heal his friends the next time they got hurt. Harry smiled softly and stuffed the last of his socks into his trunk and pushed the lid down so that the latch would close. Harry changed into a dark robe with a hood to obscure his face and pulled his trunk behind him as he left The Leaky Cauldron and strode through Diagon Alley until he came across a side alley with the cobblestones making the walking path looking far grimier, and the light seemed to strain to reach the dark corners. Without even a moment's hesitation Harry turned on his heel and started walking down Knockturn Alley. He soon found himself at a four story building with a large faded sign that had some sort of pig, or boar, or possibly an erumpent on it at some point years ago and pushed the door open with some wandless magic. Letting go of his trunk Harry pulled it behind him with magic alone as he strode through the ground floor bar to the counter. Despite being just barely tall enough to see the top of said counter Harry stood in front of it and levitated a small pouch of gold and a note in front of the barkeep on the other side of the counter. The barkeep was a young looking man with long black hair, a curly mustache, and thick eyebrows that hid a pair of hard grey eyes. He snatched the note and the pouch of gold out of the air, quickly scanning the note then dropping a heavy brass key on the countertop.

"Tha's room four-oh-three. Up all tha stairs an at tha end of tha hall. You got enough gold here for a week." The young barkeeps words slid out of his mouth and through the air like grease, making Harry's ears feel dirty for having heard them. So Harry simply nodded and made his way up to his room, ignoring the stares he was receiving from some of the other patrons. The room itself was adequate for Harry's needs. The bed was small, but so was Harry. The floor looked like it should creak, and felt like it should creak as Harry walked on it but not a sound was heard from the warped and stained floorboards. There was a small fireplace in the wall across from the bed and large table dominated the rest of the room. There were two stools that slid under the table but no other furniture, not that Harry was planning on entertaining any guests anyways. Harry sat at the table and started studying his healing text more.

XxX

Two weeks into the summer break Hermione finally managed to plan an outing to Diagon Alley with Harry and Susan Bones, who brought along her friend Hannah Abbott; a bubbly blonde with a keen interest in charms. As Blaise Zabini was still in Italy with his mother and sister he could not attend. The trip was rather uneventful, the children explored the Alley under the supervision of the Abbott and Granger families. They ate ice cream, found several books each for some extracurricular reading, and spent an inordinate amount of time in the pet shop which resulted in Hermione walking away with an unappealing orange tabby who had an unfortunately smushed face. Though Susan and Hannah both tried to get her to take a tiny cute pure white kitten Hermione refused to accept any cat except for one ugly orange cat named Crookshanks much to Harry's amusement. The adults took the time to get to know each other and ask questions respectively about muggle and wizarding culture. All in all the trip was turning out to be a success, until they ran into an unfortunate pair in the potion shop. Not watching where she was going Hermione turned a corner while inspecting some dragonweed posies, a beautiful flower known for spontaneously combusting into flames and ruining unsuspecting gardens; thus the dragon _weed_ title. Just as Hermione turned the corner, so did a blonde haired pureblood paying just as little attention only he had just opened a jar of Sanguine Oil. Sanguine Oil was a powerful aphrodisiac with a pleasant smell but was incredibly sticky and caused a persistent powerful itching sensation when it came in contact with the skin of a two preteen magicals both smacked into each other and fell on their respective bums. Hermione dropped her jar of Dragonweed Posies and gasped as they caught fire, thankfully contained in a jar charmed to be unbreakable. The blonde, one Draco Malfoy spilled Sanguine Oil all over the front of his robes and most of his face.

"Merlin's saggy balls, do you know how much this robe costs?" Draco Malfoy complained as he tried to wipe his face clean. "And you got it all over my face, this is disgusting."

"S-sorry, are you okay?" Hermione asked nervously, not yet realizing who she was speaking to under the dark sticky oil slathered face. Malfoy wiped his face clear enough that the Sanguine Oil was no longer dripping down his face and squinted at the bushy haired witch in front of him.

"You stupid mudblood! Get away from me!" Draco shouted when he realized that Hermione Granger was the one who had knocked him over. "Did the muggles not teach you any manners? You should watch where you're walking you buck-toothed slut!" Having heard the commotion the Grangers and the Abbots both rushed to the back of the store and were confronted by the stoic facade of Lucius Malfoy standing over the two children with his wand out.

"What's going on here?" Robert Abbot asked with a small tremor in his voice at the sight of the powerful and ruthless ex-Death Eater.

"It would seem that this child ran over my son. Are you responsible for her?" Lucius Malfoy sneered.

"That filthy mudblood ruined my robes father. She ran into me on purpose! I'm sure of it!" Draco Malfoy whined.

"No I didn't! It was an accident, neither of us were paying attention and we ran into each other!" Hermione cried out just before her mother arrived and pulled the young witch to her waist.

"Are you calling my son a liar?" Lucius Malfoy hissed dangerously, gripping his wand tighter.

"Hey now, if my Hermione says it was an accident that's all it was." Daniel Granger said jovially, not knowing the blonde wizards reputation. "Children sometimes feel a need to place blame when there's none to be had. I'm sure everyone is fine."

"That mudblood ran right into me! If it was an accident then why am I the only messy one?" Draco cried out with a smug look on his face.

"Watch your mouth boy!" Robert Abbot snapped.

"Don't you address my son that way Lord Abbot!" Lucius Malfoy snapped in return, slightly raising his wand. This was the scene that Harry Potter finally arrived at, having been busy paying for his second year potion kit. Seeing the obvious tension Harry discreetly stepped forward pointing his thumb and pinky out then giving them a quick twist and flick to help him focus his magic. Harry's magic pushed out and before anyone even noticed that he was there Draco Malfoy fell flat on his face. The young Malfoy heir attempted to stand up only to trip and fall two more times before his father grabbed the young wizard by the scruff of his neck and forcibly pulled him to his feet, at which point Harry stepped forward and waved his hands in his peculiar form of communication causing both Hermione Granger and Susan Bones to laugh out loud. "Do you have something to say Mr. Potter?" Lucius Malfoy asked haughtily.

"Oh, Harry was just commenting that Draco is awfully quick to accuse me of knocking him over when he's so obviously capable of doing it on his own just fine." Hermione replied with a happy smile. Lucius Malfoy looked over his red faced son for a moment then growled slightly.

"Draco, pick up your things. We're leaving." The elder Malfoy snapped, slipping his wand back into its holster in his cane.

"But Father."

"Now Draco!" Lucius Malfoy snapped impatiently, turning on his heel and stalking his way to the front counter to pay for his purchases. Harry and his friends waited a minute for the Malfoys to leave then paid for their remaining purchases and made their way to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Shop for a break from the shopping and to make idle chatter.

XxX

It was at the end of a long day when Harry finally entered his rented room again. It hadn't been easy for him to convince the Grangers that he could make his own way home, but his own stubbornness eventually won out over their protectiveness. The fact that he had literally pushed them into their car and closed the door before walking away might have had something to do with it as well but all's well that ends well. Harry knew that Hermione would give him an earful about it later but for now he had more important things on his mind, mainly his healer training. It was finally time to try his first piece of healing magic! Harry picked up a knife from his potions kit and lightly stabbed his right pinky finger just enough to draw blood. With a determined look on his face Harry covered his pinky with his left hand and focused on making his magic respond to his will. Harry pooled a small amount of magic around and over the wound, then used it to pinch the broken skin together. He then pushed his magic into the wound and imagined the magic covering his wound and the magic in his wound spinning. His magic spun and spun, the gap between the magic in his wound and that inside of it shrinking as they pressed together. Harry felt a small 'pop' and looked at his finger to find it in perfect condition. With a large smile on his face Harry Potter repeated the exercise again and again all through the night.

XxX

It was the final day of summer vacation, and Harry would have to make his way to the Hogwarts Express the next morning. The past several weeks had been extremely productive as Harry had expanded from healing small pinpricks on his fingers, to small incisions on his arm, to small and medium wounds to animals that he could find. Birds with broken wings, rats suffering from nasty bites, even a small child with a skinned knee. Harry's healing prowess was visibly increasing on a nearly daily basis. Even more impressive was that all of this was done with wandless magic. As Harry did not understand how the trace worked for underaged wizards he did not realize that he could safely use his wand while in Diagon and Knockturn Alley. Due to this, Harry had decided to learn wandless healing so that he could put his magic to the test rather than just read theory all summer. Plus the text the Madam Pomfrey had lent him did not actually have any spells for him to test even if he had felt safe to do so without inadvertently revealing that he had never returned to his Orphanage. While Harry did feel that his summer had been well spent he was disappointed that he had not gotten a single letter from his twin Ignotus "Iggy" Potter. While they had not spent much time together during the school year due to their differing houses rivalry, he had hoped that they might be able to reconnect. Sadly, it appeared that their time apart and molded them into people that were just too different from each other. Had they both been sorted into Gryffindor Harry was sure they would have gotten along better but there was little he could do about it now. With a wave of his hand Harry pulled his trunk out from under his bed and started to pack for the next school year…

 _ **AN: Well… Sorry this took so long. I have a hard time motivating myself to start writing, especially since I don't have a comfortable space to do so while at home. Next chapter will begin year two, and some wonderful surprises to help change things from canon. Some of you may wonder why Hermione is being so passive regarding Harry's scars, I think that having 2 slytherins for best friends has taught her some discretion and self control that she never really learned in canon. She isn't going to just let it go, but she can't exactly interrogate Harry over the phone, or through letters now can she? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter and hopefully I will write up the next one far more quickly. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, or followed me or my story**_


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